Potty Training Progress!

The closest thing to a pic of my husband that I can get away with

I am so happy to say that Layla is almost potty trained!

For the last few days she has been having very few accidents, and most of those have been while we were out. Yesterday I started to realize that she was having a breakthrough. While we were at preschool  she said "potty pants" a couple times and I told her to wait a few minutes until I could change her. You see, usually when she would say something, that meant that she had already had an accident.
I laid her down to change her, and realized that she was still dry. She went inside and used the bathroom, but then wet her pants on the way back home. Last night about an hour after I put her to bed she woke up saying "momma, potty pants," so I took her and she went to the bathroom. She did go in her diaper again during the night, but hasn't had a single accident all day.

I think we're gonna be completely done within another month and she just turned 2 on the 14th!

So here's the basic plan I used to train her:

1. We started putting her on the potty whenever she had a dry diaper after an hour or two when she was about 14 mos. old. Sometimes she would go on the potty and be surprised at the result.

2. After we moved to Portland and were a little settled in, we stared really working on the training. I would put her in either cloth training pants or a cloth diaper when she was at home, and try to take her at least about each hour when she was awake. She got to the point where she could empty her bladder when it had something in it. We also introduced the reward of giving her a date whenever she went. This worked really well for awhile, but then the novelty wore off. She still kept going on the potty most of the time though.

If I lost track of the time or she had a lot to drink though, she would just go in her pants. This is why cloth is more useful for training. They feel the moisture more in the cloth more than with a disposable diaper or trainer, so they realize that the wet feeling isn't a good thing.

3. The final stage is your baby being able to realize the feeling of a full bladder, or the feeling that they need to poop. The poop is actually easier because you usually see them straining and hiding in the corner somewhere :-0

We are just seeing the beginning of this stage now, like yesterday when Layla actually asked to go at school before she wet her pants.

The last step of this stage is night-training. This is the hardest because they will have a hard time waking up fully during the night to ask for the bathroom. I am totally fine with Layla sleeping in it for now .

Why is early training better? Babies seem to be less stubborn about learning than older toddlers. Plus, you will save tons of time and money not buying diapers and washing loads of them.

Breaking the potty training code

Layla and her Grandma (my mom)

I think we may have figured something out to motivate Layla for potty training!
Lately she had been hardly ever going in the potty. I would put her on and the she would go in the diaper less than 10 minutes later. Frustrating.

Yesterday I was feeling the Ramadan spirit and went out and bought some nice dates. I let Layla have one and she got really excited about it. She kept asking for more...

Then my husband got a good idea. We didn't want to give her candy or junk food as a reward for using the potty because it could add up to a lot of junk over the course of a day. He thought maybe we could give her a date every time she went.

It works! So far she has gone 2x today and 1 last night. :)
Who knows maybe this might work for some other little ones.
That is, if they like dates!

She slept throught the night!

I woke up this morning around 6:30 and started to freak out a little. Why? Layla hadn't needed to get out of her crib yet and it was light out already. I had to check and make sure she was still breathing.
Her normal night routine looks like this:
9:00 She goes to sleep in her crib with little or no problem.
11:30-12:30 She wakes up during this time frame not wanting to go back in the crib. I nurse her cuddle her, and usually just keep her in bed with me because its easier.
4:00 Sometimes she wakes up again around this time and wants to nurse some more and if I'm lucky she will go back in her crib afterward.
6:30 She wakes up again wanting back in bed with me. She's sometimes crabby and wakes up on and off until about 9 from this point on.
8:30 Most mornings she wakes up for good around this time. Other days she sleeps a little later depending on how restless her morning was.

For some reason Layla is a restless sleeper and has a hard time getting back to sleep once she has woken herself up. She is still addicted to both the pacifier and nursing and I don't think I would have ever gotten any sleep if it were not for both of them.

Last night she did wake herself up, but just whimpered a little and got herself back to sleep instead of screaming for me. It was amazing! However, I also doubt that it will happen again for a very long time.

Big Helper

While I was taking out the trash this morning Layla decided to help me get a new bag for the trash can. She actually went and got a bag herself and was trying to put it in there. Just goes to show that kids pay attention to every little thing you do from a very young age. She also figured out how to climb up into her high chair today when I have left the tray off it. I am just shocked at how quickly she pics these things up.

Up, up, and Away

What is it with toddlers and climbing? Layla just started being able to get up on the chairs and couches this week and is already taking it to the extreme. If I don't pay attention for a second, she will be on the top of the couch or standing on one of the end tables. She gets really proud of her efforts too. One of the first times she got to standing on one of the chairs, she stood up really straight and said UP! So sassy. She's also really taking off with repeating words this week and can say almost anything you tell her too. That is, if she feels like doing it. She is so much fun, but its so scary at the same time. What am I going to do when she starts opening the doors?

Layla the insomnia cure

After wasting lots of time online last night I finally made it to bed around 1 am. That's pretty late when you have a kid who usually wakes you up a couple times during the night and also gets up by 8:30 or so. So after going to bed late I wasn't able to sleep for some reason. I found myself wanting to hold Layla, who had been sleeping nicely in her crib for about 4 hours by this point. I finally decided to go get her and bring her to bed with me, where she just stirred a bit and then went back to sleep. She still woke up a couple times early in the morning though. Somehow I think its gonna be hard to wean her off sleeping with mommy by the time husband gets back next month though. Oh well, she's only little for so long. I'm just going to enjoy it while it lasts.

She is sleeping in the picture with her Twinkle bonding doll that she got from Bri at Little Green Pastures. She talks to her doll sometimes too ;)

Heavy load

Layla likes to go around the house carrying things that are too heavy or awkward for a kid her size. Just yesterday she was carrying a whole package of baby wipes that weighed several pounds. She also likes to carry her dirty diaper pail when its not full, and just today she was carrying a huge empty water jug. Kids. She is also doing well learning body parts. So far she knows eyes, teeth, ears, hair, mouth, feet, legs and hands.

Yummy!

We had fun tonight eating pancakes for dinner. Since I was still cooking while Layla was ready to eat, I decided try something new. She had been playing with some bowls on the floor, so I put some torn up pancakes in one. I just gave her a fork and let her get at it. She seemed to enjoy eating while playing kitchen.

Playing in the hamper

I just thought this was so funny. Layla likes dumping all the dirty clothes out of the hamper then throwing them back in. Today she dumped them out, turned the thing upside down, then hid inside it. The faces she was making were so cute. So much so that I stopped talking to the hubby on messenger to grab these pictures. Enjoy!

Keys Please!

Layla has taken a huge interest in playing with my keys lately. After she decided it was funny to stick the keys up her nose, I thought it would be best to not let her play with the real ones. I found her baby keys that I bought her awhile ago. Imagine my surprise when she started trying to open the front door with them! Just goes to show you its important to watch what you do in front of your kids. Whether its good or bad they will model it.

Girls and dolls. . .

I always thought it was funny to see little girls that weren't much more than babies themselves playing with dolls. That said, Layla has decided that she likes a doll. As you can see she doesn't know how to carry her properly, but she does give the doll kisses. That's pretty surprising considering that she usually only kisses me.
She also said 2 new words today:
Apple and spicy.
She never ceases to amaze me.

I love my broccoli!

I think its so important to start little kids out eating a variety of food. We started Layla on a few solids around 6mos., then she got into eating more substantial amounts of food by 8mos. or so. I really never used pureed food except to mix with things or when we were traveling. As a result, she got used to textured and flavored foods right away. Her favorite food from 8-10 mos. or so was actually beans! They kept her system regulated for sure. She does have some food preferences, but only refuses to eat something if you've been making her eat it day after day. Right now she's like that with bananas. Tonight I made chicken and noodles and broccoli. She ate some chicken and noodles with her little fork, but surprised me with the broccoli. She has eaten it before, but went crazy for it this time. Together we ate an entire bowl just of broccoli. She definitely likes her meat and vegetables.

Potty!

We got Layla a potty even though she is just now 16 mos. She seems to have some awareness of being wet and not liking it! One of her favorite things to do now is to sit on her potty and brush her teeth at the same time. She has only gone in it 3 times in almost a week, but I feel like that's a good start considering how often we're not even at home. Here she is, enjoying feeling like a big girl. She was playing with my phone to distract her that time.

First Hairdo!

It's been annoying at times to have a litle girl with almost no hair. I would always see babies with tons of hair with cute hairdos and little headbands. Layla never has liked the headbands. I got her to leave one on for some pictures last summer, but that's about it. So the other day we were shopping and I saw some tiny rubber bands. People usually use them for little braids, but they work for little ponytails as well. Here she is: Layla the little white Somali.

January...that just about says it.

As for January, we didn't do a whole lot. The month started with some new years fun for mommy. Aka a night away from Layla. It was only the second time she has spent the night away from me. It was mostly cold in January, and we spent some time staying with friends in Chicago, getting snowed in for a couple days longer than we planned.

Layla improved her walking skills throughout the month and is nearly running now. She has learned to say the usual Mama and dada. By about the end of January she was also saying eat and doing the sign for it, and started saying no by the very end of the month. It always feels like she is mocking me when she says no. She also says up and hot and tries to imitate many other words.

Little walker

Layla is just really starting to walk. She can usually take about 3-5 steps without falling now. She also learned to go down the stairs on her butt. I tried to load these videos earlier, so hopefully they'll work now.

My little carnivore

My dad's new favorite thing to do with Layla? He likes to give her a big piece of steak and just let her chew on it for awhile. The funny thing is, she really likes it. Sometimes it keeps her busy for a half hour or so. She is also starting to get her canine teeth now, so that might be another reason that chewing brings her so much joy.

Stairs!

Walking isn't too far off for my little one. She has been trying to learn how to climb the stairs for months. For some reason she just couldn't figure out how to pick up her knee to the next step. She finally figured it out this last week. Once she got to the top once, it didn't take her long to figure out how to do it fast. We'll see if she gets to walking before her birthday on Oct. 14th.
Yes, she is actually falling in one of these pics.



Somehow I managed to get the shot and then catch her at the bottom, although she did bump her head on my leg. You can see a slight red spot in the last pic.

Layla clicking her tongue

Layla is getting to the stage where she likes to copy people. She knows how to clap and wave, but I never thought she would be able to imtate people clicking their tongue. She does it, and you can actually hear it. She was doing it in the car today on our way to the mall.

Lava Lamp nightlight

My dad had the greatest idea ever. Layla seems to be developing a fear of the dark, but the night light I tried was too bright and just encouraged her to wake up more. Since we have a couple lava lamps in the house, he suggested to use one of those as it would give her something to look at.
It really seems to work!

She screams when I first put her down, but then calms herself down right away. I think she must look at the lamp, then just zone out and go to sleep.
At this rate she'll be sleeping through the night any day. (I can hope right?)

In other news, the wisdom teeth are healing nicely, I can eat some normal food just as long as its not crunchy or has sharp edges. I am also only taking ibuprofen at night. During the day it's easy to keep myself distracted from the dull ache in my mouth.