Organizing and Art

This week I have been focusing on re-organizing all of Delilah's "stuff". In her two short years, she has managed to collect quite a bit of stuff. With the new year approaching, it's the perfect time to cycle out the old for the new. It has taken me two and a half days, but I have finally managed to organize little girls room. Not only is it organized, but I also managed to move all her toys to her room. I know this doesn't mean she will keep the toys in her room, but at least I can re-claim the rest of the house (mainly the living room). 

I was pleasantly surprised to find that she keeps her room much cleaner now that it is organized. I was afraid she would dump all the new bins of toys all over the place, like she does her dresser drawers. So far, she has kept it pretty neat and returns blocks to the correct bin. This is not to say she keeps a spotless room. Little girls kitchen accessories are all over the place. 

I don't have any pictures of her room yet, but I'll take some soon. However, I do have a few of her painting on her new easel today. She really enjoyed herself. I plan to make a corner of the loft into her little art studio. Still thinking through some of the elements I want to add, like a place to hang her art work. 

On a side note, you may also notice that I redesigned the blog. New year, new blog design. I've finally figured out a way to make installing these changes much easier, so you may see her blog design change a lot. It's just so much fun. 

Hope you all enjoy the rest of your week. I will be getting ready for my Momma and Janet's visit this weekend.  Woohoo!

Merry Christmas

Christmas morning is so much more fun with a toddler. Her excitement is contagious. I could go on and on about how amazing this morning was, but I will let the photos do all the talking. Enjoy!

***Pictures are in black and white due to the unbearable lighting in my house, which lead me to use the flash.***

Maybe Next Time

Potty training was a bust. Delilah wasn't ready after all. During the middle of the second day things just got ugly. Not only were there accidents there were also huge meltdowns when I would sit her on the potty. It became a battle, one I'm not going to have. Potty training needs to be a positive experience, not something that scares her off. Back in diapers she went. 

At first, I was a little conflicted on how I feel about this. Did I stop too soon? Could I have done more? After dissecting everything in my mind, I came to the conclusion that Delilah just isn't ready for this step. The accidents never phased her. Pee or poop, she was content to continue playing without letting me know. She also viewed the potty as a toy chair. Nothing more than a place to sit, when she felt like it. 

One thing I learned from this experience is my daughter has absolutely no cues to when she is peeing or pooping. Zero! Makes it hard to set her on the potty in time without those. We definitely will have to wait for those cues before we start potty training again. It will happen one day. Today is just not the day.  

Day 2: Mid-morning

This morning I decided to try using Dora to keep her on the potty longer. I started by giving her some chocolate milk with breakfast, hoping to get her to drink it all. (She rarely gets chocolate milk, if ever.) We then played for a little while. At 8:30 I put on a Christmas Dora DVD and set her on the potty. She happily sat there for over an hour, wanting more Dora when it ended. She was halfway through the second run of the DVD when she got up from the potty. I didn't argue with her, since she sat there for over an hour. Within 30 seconds of getting up she peed in her panties. She had no reaction until I heard it and set her immediately on the potty, the she started to cry. I believe she was crying because she didn't want to sit on the potty anymore. I cleaned her up, put her in clean panties and let her go play again.

I know this is only day two, but I'm beginning to think I was a bit premature about potty training. I don't say this because I am frustrated (I am a little, but I don't show it to Delilah), I think she may not be truly ready. I gather this from her not having reactions to accidents. It doesn't seem to bother her. When she had a poopy accident yesterday, she was happy to continue playing. It didn't phase her one bit. It's the same thing with pee accidents. Also, she only sees her potty as a chair. 

I am going to continue down this path for today and possibly tomorrow, as I don't want to throw in the towel after only 24 hours, but we may return to diapers after that. I will keep the potty chairs accessible, should she choose to try again. I just think this may not be the right time for her. Hopefully I will have a clearer idea by the end if the day. 

Day 1: Evening

Well, it went almost exactly as expected. Lots of accidents, no potty success. No big deal, we will keep going.

Timeline of our day:
About 9:00am she had her first pee accident. Luckily she was standing in the bathroom when it happened, so the cleanup wasn't so bad.

Before nap I put her on the potty for 5-10 minutes while I read her "How the Grinch Stole Christmas!". No poop or pee, so off to bed she went. I checked in on her 5 minutes later, because I heard her playing, and she had pooped in her panties. Go figure! I cleaned her up, set her on the potty again and then off to bed once more.

She woke (if she really slept) from her nap nearly an hour later with a small pee accident. Again, I cleaned her up, set her on the potty, then off to play.

No more accidents after nap, but no using the potty either. She was dry until dinner and bath, and then we put her in a diaper for bed.

We have made a point to set her on the potty every half hour or so. Now I think we may need to keep her on the potty longer than5-10 minutes. I think tomorrow we will try watching a Dora episode while she sits on the potty. I think that once she actually goes in the potty, and sees how excited we will be, then maybe she will understand the concept better. At this point I think she thinks it's just a chair to sit on, bare butt of course.

Hopefully tomorrow goes a bit smoother, but all in all it wasn't too bad. Definitely could have been worse.

Day 1: Morning

It's a big day in the Unfried household. Today Delilah begins potty training. We have been noticing the signs for a while. Pulling at her diaper and saying diaper. Willingly leading us to the changing table so we can change her. Pulling off her diaper if it is full (which has led to some uber messes). She has also built up a large enough vocabulary to tell us when it is potty time.

Seeing how we have no class or appointments for the next 2 weeks, we decided now is the best time to try potty training. I say "try" because there is always a chance it won't take and I will not be discouraged. We will just try again. No biggie. 

Our method will be sort of cold turkey. We got her a ton of the thick, cotton, training panties. She will wear these, and only these from the waist down, during the day. No diaper and no pull-up until bed time. We will set her on the potty every half hour, or so, during the day. We set up a potty in her bathroom and one in the living room. Why the living room? Well, we have a multiple level house with only a bathroom on the top floor. We figured it would be too soon to expect her to rush upstairs if she needs to potty. When she is fully trained with minimal accidents we will retire the living room potty. 

I plan to use this blog as a journal of our experience, so plan on lots of updates, possibly multiple times a day. Hopefully, by doing so, I can have a reminder of what works and doesn't work, just in case we ever have to do this again. 

Now to discuss Delilah's reaction to her first pair of panties and the potty. As soon as she woke up this morning I removed her diaper and put her in panties then on the potty. She was a little confused at first and tugged at them. Once I showed her how to pull them up and down at the potty they became a novelty. In the last hour, since she has been awake, she has pulled them down and up to sit on the potty. She always says "potty" before she does it. I know it's the novelty of something new, but it is nice to see she has grasped the concept. Now to see if she will keep it up and actually pee in the potty. Wish us luck! 

Christmas Card Photo Shoot

A few weeks ago my friend Lindy and I took our little princesses for a little Christmas Card photo shoot. Believe me when I say it takes 2. I honestly went into it thinking it would be a challenge to get Delilah to look at the camera, let alone smile for it. Thank goodness for Lindy. She has the magic touch...lipgloss. Ha! Why didn't I ever think of that? Anyway, we got a ton of cute photos to choose from. Actually, Lindy got a bunch of great photos to choose from. Apparently my camera decided to act up during the entire shoot. Now that the cards have gone out in the mail, I can post some of the pictures for you to enjoy. (Sorry for those who didn't receive a card. I seriously miscalculated how many I needed. Whoops.) Delilah and Addison were too adorable, especially when we let them run. I love the pic of them holding hands.