Um, thank you?
That was from my daughter. Days after she turned 2, she dreamily walked out of her room and asked, “Mom, why do I smell basil?” I was making lasagna. What the what? I can never, ever get away with sneaking a treat and her not noticing. Never mind it’s past her bedtime and she should be asleep, there is the pitiful call-out for help, I hustle in, and she smells peppermint on my breath. That’s my girl.
Tonight she was actually smelling rich tea biscuits (tho I think the linked review was a bit harsh), and yes she got one. I actually quite fancy rich tea biscuits here and there, and they are even more delightful with a wee touch of Nutella (what isn’t though?). I think I survived on Nutella for breakfast when I studied in Spain (1999). It was a new-find and one worth keeping. I believe Sarah from Loved Like the Church would agree.
Back to Rebekah, we have implemented the final step of officially being a “big girl.” She has had the vocabulary of a graduate student, the height of a basketball player, and evidently the pallet and nose of a Top Chef for years, but her poor bladder just hasn’t kept up. We potty-trained her the day after she turned 2 (why ruin a birthday, right?). And by we, I mean my mother-in-law. Phyllis asked me to help out with VBS, and in exchange I not so subtly requested she not only babysit both my children (2 and 4 months at the time), but also potty-train the older one. I got my wish. We She did the naked for 5 days training, and it worked beautifully (we were still in Texas, by the way. I wouldn’t recommend it for Scotland).
Sadly, the only ways Rebe is like me are unfortunate ones: small bladder and immense pleasure in sweet drinks. That is a deadly combination. I can be hardcore strict in certain ways (sleep training, for instance), but in the sweet pleasures in life, I am more than lenient. This had to end. For the past year and a half, we have had potty training regressions, most of which were minor, but still needed to be dealt with. I always thought it was her just not stopping what she was doing quickly enough. However, we realized that it was fluid intake. So, for the past 2 weeks, Rebekah has been walking around telling people, “Mommy is limiting my drinks so I can keep my panties dry and get a treat and wear a dress!” Yes, my friends, we leveraged her 2 favorites: treats and dress-wearing. And you know what? It worked! We kept a chart in the bathroom where she got to put stickers on totally dry days. She loved it. If she kept her night-time pull-up dry, she got to wear a dress. I’ll be honest, not a whole lot of dresses in the past 2 weeks.
So, yesterday Josh asked if we needed anything at the grocery store. I said we needed pull-ups. (We are still using them for night…I know.) So off we went. I grabbed the needed pull-ups. Josh asked where the cheaper ones were. I told him what is typical for Scotland: nowhere. Josh went back to the nappy aisle to affirm this, at which point he saw that they were 4.98 pds ( roughly $8) for a small pack. It was at this point that we decided to work on nights too. That’s right- why have a plan of action when you can make huge changes spontaneously? I mean, that’s what we did for big girl bed and weaning Luke (both to bottles and off them again months later) and thumb-sucking. And, as usual, it somehow did not backfire on us. She slept in panties last night and woke up at 7am dry. Go figure.
(We did buy an extra bed sheet today, though. It’s inevitable.)
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YEAH BEKAH. Nana and Papa are so proud of your dry panties overnight! Keep it up. Kudos to mom and dad for holding firm on not buying more pull ups. New phase of life. Next will be little Luke potty training – fun, fun!!
The thought of potty-training Luke is a fleeting one.
You did a great job with Rebe, tho! I am thinking Christmas this year- we’ll have extra help (and hands) and hopefully he’ll be even more verbal by then. I’d also like to do it all closer together- meaning days and nights, so I’d like him to be a bit older (which I hear is normal for boys).
Great idea – then Phyllis can train him too!!(:
When we potty trained our daughter we found that cotton panties felt an awful lot like a pull up to her naked bottom . We special ordered silky panties from JCP and they immediately feel yucky when the first wettness happens . She only had 2 uh,ohs after that and once she was better at the control we let her switch to cute themed cotton ones she picked herself as a reward .
Just a hint that worked for us (and several other friends)
Hey, Emily! Mary told me to check back in again. I love your new site! Mary hasn’t changed her link yet, but I saved this on my favorites. So… I am leaving my first comment!