And the results are in!

For those of you who read my last blog, you may be interested in the results of yesterday's potty party.  The party went really well.  Kevin had a great time.  We had decorations, games, presents, treats, party hats, etc.  The whole nine yards.  

I believe that the party taught him how to recognize if his underwear is wet or dry, that all waste goes in the potty, and that it's a really great thing for him to go in the potty.  I had hoped for him to poop in the potty during the course of the party, but that just didn't happen.  He did urinate many times, though, during the party.

This morning, I started him off in underwear, not pull-ups.  He stayed dry until about 12:30 or so, which is when he had his first accident.  For several hours today, he absolutely refused to go on the potty.  That was scary.  I think he felt that the pressure was on for him to perform.

So I started wracking my brain, trying to remember what worked for Sarah.  Aha!  I remembered the food coloring trick!  I explained to Kevin that if he'd go on the potty, I'd put a drop of food coloring in the water.  Sarah overheard this conversation and got excited.  She started begging to go first, which she did.  Of course, then Kevin got all excited about it.

So the upshot of it all is that Kevin once again started going on the potty.  He had many accidents today, but he also had many successes.  I'm using lots of treats and stickers, and I feel that it's having a good effect.  My goal is to have things basically under control by September, which is when we will be going on a family vacation.

Woohoo!!  Potty parties rule!

The decorations:

The morning session:  Playing games while potty training the baby doll.

Lots of things to drink:

The lunchtime party for the baby doll:

The evening congratulations party with the whole family:

We're having a party!

We're having a party on Friday.  A potty party, that is!  Have you not heard of these yet?  Let me explain.

When Sarah was two and half, she refused to use the bathroom on the potty.  I tried every trick that I could come up with, but without success.  Finally, one day I was in Walmart and saw a book by Teri Crane entitled "Potty Train Your Child in Just One Day." 

I thought it sounded crazily impossible.  But by this point, I was desperate, and splurged on the book.  Well, I am now a believer!  It worked for Sarah.  By the end of the day, she was basically potty trained.  It took about 3-4 more days to complete the process, but it was done.

So, on Friday, it'll be time for Kevin's potty party.  Here's the basic idea:

The house gets decorated with balloons, streamers, etc.  In the morning, the child teaches a doll how to go on the potty.  The doll has some success, some "accidents."  (I will wet the doll's diapers with a sponge when Kevin's not looking.  Also, I have chocolate pudding for bad accidents!)  The baby doll gets lots of treats for his efforts.  Finally, at lunch time, the baby doll gets a potty thrown for him, since he's now a big boy and doesn't need diapers!  There are noisemakers, toys for the doll, the whole nine yards.

After lunch, you explain to the child that now it'll be their turn.  If they also learn how to use the potty, they will get a party, too.   You put the child in underwear, not diapers.  Then you start giving the kid tons of fun things to drink.  I have silly straws, caprisuns, koolaid, Dr Pepper, juice, water, you name it.  You throw caution to the wind on potty party days when it comes to junk food.  The drinks give the kids lots of opportunities to use the bathroom.  If the child's underwear is dry, you make a huge deal out of it, using stickers on charts, treats, etc.  I will decorate a muffin tin and place a variety of small treats in each hole for him to chose from, such as M n Ms, chocolate chips, little crackers, etc.  Then, if the child goes in the potty, you scream, holler, dance around the room, act as if it's the greatest thing since sliced bread.

After all is said and done, you have a potty party.  Sarah and her dad

 will come back home for this aspect of things.  I have presents (for both kids), a cake mix, we can play games, etc.  As part of the party, Kevin will throw his pull-ups in the trash.  (I will still use something similar, however, for night time for a while.)  We will go out to eat at Chucky Cheese afterwards to continue the celebration.

This worked for Sarah.  She was refusing to go at all.  But during the potty party day, she went on the potty 7 times and then went to Chucky Cheese in underwear!  Kevin already goes on the potty several times a day.  However, he absolutely will not have a bowel movement in the potty.  I'm hoping that this party will encourage that.  I'm going to try to focus on that a little more, since he already can urinate in the potty.

It's a crazy way of doing it, but it does work!  At least, we're hoping it does!

http://www.tericrane.com/about_book.shtml

A visitor

This weekend, my sister came to visit.  Since she lives three and a half hours away, her visits are always special occasions.  This time was no exception!

This morning, we went to several garage sales.  My sister and I both bought some clothes.  Sarah brought her allowance with her in a ziplock bag.  She had almost $3 saved up.  At each garage sale, she ran up, hoping to find toys for sale.  Then she'd go up to the person running the garage sale, show them a toy, ask how much it was, and pay for it.  She's learning how things work!  Her best find was a remote control car that actually works.  She got it for a quarter!

In the afternoon, my sister and the kids played in the small kids pool we have on the patio.  She had brought several big water squirters as gifts for the kids.  I, however, had no desire to get wet.  So I stayed a safe distance away--inside the house!

A side point--I downloaded an app that is supposed to teach you how to draw cartoon characters.  My sister and I started out dubiously.  Amazingly, though, both of us were able to draw a recognizable Donald Duck and Bugs Bunny!  Fun!  When was the last time you sat down and attempted to draw?

The summertime blues

  Looking back on my childhood, summer was definitely the best time of year.  No school, no shoes, and no worries.  I want it to be that way for my kids, too.  Today I started to make a list of summer activities I can do with my kids that cost very little or are free.  If you have any ideas to add to my list, please let me know!  

the schools in town offer free lunches during the summer

story hour at the library

the theater shows movies for $1 several times a week

there is a splash pad that the kids can play in for free

library

park

a place where you can bounce on lots of "bouncy houses" for $4

a kid's museum that we have in town (also $4)

riding bikes

picking berries

playing in our little pool outside

hiking (when it's not too hot)

swimming in the lake near our house

baking cookies

help Sarah make a lemonade stand (she might be too little for this, still)

go to garage sales

play at the playground at Burger King

Notice that the sprinkler is NOT on this list.  (Refer back to my recent post on dirtiness.)

Do you have any other suggestions?

Why are my kids always so dirty?

  Before I had kids, I'd go to other people's houses and take a long look at their kids.  It seemed to me that every kid under the age of 5 always had boogers running down their nose, a grimy face, and yesterday's lollipop residue still on their hand.  I was critical of the parents of these kids, thinking that if I were to ever have a kid, sure, my kids would get grimy and sticky.  BUT, I'd be on top of things.  I'd clean up their messes quickly, before things got out of hand.  My kid would never be seen in public or around other people  in such raggedy condition.  After all, how hard could it be to keep a kid relatively clean?

  Well, let me tell you something.  Kids are a mess.  They LOVE being dirty and gravitate towards grime.  If there is one mud puddle in the yard, they will immediately find it and jump in it over and over.  When they pick a lollipop, it will inevitably be blue.  And that blue will drip down their cute little chin and down onto the clothes right before you have to leave for the store.  Then, they will use their hands (which will be covered with blue lollipop grime), to pick up rocks in the parking lot.  When you tell them to stop, they will wipe their hands on their clothes.  It never ends.  None of this is an exaggeration.  No, this is really how life is with kids.

  Case in point:  This afternoon, the kids were bored.  Since it was warm and beautiful outside, I thought about our sprinkler.  I could put on their bathing suits and let them play in the water.  Of course, I immediately realized the fact that the sprinkler produces muddy ground.  So, I used my brain.  I got out a piece of tarp from the shed to put under the sprinkler.  That way, they could slide and jump on the tarp, while getting wet and avoiding muddy feet.  Boy, was I ever wrong.

  They completely avoided the tarp and focused on the mud that the sprinkler created right on the side of the tarp.  And I mean really focused.  They sat in the mud, jumped in it. threw it at each other, filled buckets with the stuff, and dumped it onto the tarp.  They were filthy, filthy, filthy.

  I actually brought a bar of soap outside and used the hose and soap to try to get the bulk of mud off of them while they were still outside.  Then I used towels to scoop up the kids and get them in the bathroom and into the tub.  It was awful.

  After this whole ordeal, I had to bathe two kids, wash the hair of two kids, run a load of laundry, clean the bathtub, clean the sink, and I still need to sweep and mop.  If I EVER EVER mention to anyone of you out their that I might get out the sprinkler and let the kids play in it on any given day, please refer me to this post. I think that my kids are still too young to play in the sprinkler.  Maybe I'll try again in a few years.