Is It Possible? Hmm, Sometimes.

I fully believe that a child can and should be allowed to potty train at 18 months, if they are willing and ready.  Over the last few weeks Ella has shown a strong interest in the toilet.  She takes her dolls, and asks several times a day.  I had let her sit on it with her clothes on, its such a pain to take her pants and diaper off so many times a day, besides she is only 18 months.  But with encouragement from my friends and family, they assured me that it could be done.

I was a little worried going into this adventure.  My last child took almost two years to train.  That nightmare is still all to fresh in my mind.  Everyone reminded me that they are not the same kids, and I shouldn't expect Ella to do the same.  Although this is true, they still have the same mother.  I am still very much the same person, and I'm still a little exhausted from my last potty training endeavour. 

On Sunday I bought her some Hello Kitty under ware.  She loves "meow", kitties, so I thought they would be the most encouraging for her to stay dry in.  She loved them!  She wanted to carry them around, we all showed her our under ware and on Monday morning, we said bye bye diapers.

I decided after training Will, I would NEVER again be the one trained.  If this is going to work, its going to have to be Ella, who is trained, not mommy.  I quickly realized that it was far to much trouble to keep the under ware on.  She wanted to sit on the potty every five minutes.  So we stripped her down and let her run free.  After each accident we went back and forth from the crime scene to the toilet.  We'd say "No! No pee on the floor"  run, run run to the potty "We pee on the potty!  Yeah!!!" then I'd have her sit on it.  We did that about 5-10 times at each accident.  After her nap, at 2:30, I found her in the bathroom standing in a puddle.  But, she had gotten herself there, and put the toilet seat up, she just forgot to tell me first.  I was encouraged by this progress.  She did this another time later in the evening.

Now, you may think "she is almost there".  But I there was also another realization yesterday.  She pees ALL the time.  Her bladder control is still very weak.  She pees tiny bits every half hour or so.  She certainly knows where its supposed to go, but she doesn't know yet when she is going, nor does she have the ability to get on the toilet by herself.  Like I said before, I refuse to be the one trained. 

The last 36 hours have been a learning experience for both of us.  Ella learned where pee and poop are supposed to go, and I learned that my little girl is far more capable than what we give her credit for.  They are smart little things, I plan on trying again in a month or so.  Its only a matter of time before her muscles are strong enough to take on the rest of the task.

Winter Sport

The weather finally decided to behave enough for us to take a trip to McKennan park's ice rink.  The boys, mainly Jack, have been asking for months.  This winter has been so cold and snowy, that it has been hard to schedule a time to take them out.  I ideally wanted to take them without Ella, so I could skate as well, but it just wasn't working.

Friday was beautiful, 33 degrees, and sunny!  That hasn't happened yet this year.  So we took the opportunity and headed out after school.   The boys skated up and Ella and I stayed in our boots.  This was Ella's first experience with ice.  She loves being outdoors and this was no difference.  She was slipping and falling a lot, but she apparently didn't mind too much.  She was all smiles, and really enjoyed watching another group of kids playing some type of ice hockey ball. 

Will had on his double blades, and was able to stay up pretty well.  He took it slow and mostly made walking motions.  He was having a lot of fun until he slipped, about a half hour into it, and hit his heat.  We opted for no helmets this time, and maybe we shouldn't have taken the risk.  Oh, he is fine and everything, but he probably would have held out longer if he wouldn't have gotten hurt.

Jack had a pair of hockey skates this year.  They really helped keep his feet firm on the ice.  The was still falling quite a bit, but he doesn't play it safe.  He is trying swirls, spins, and all kind of crazy acrobatics.  I really think he spent more time on the ground then in the blades, but he is learning, getting exercise, and having fun. 

After we were done skating, we took a detour to the park.  The slides sure are scary fast when they are wet and covered in snow.  Ella wanted more and more and more.  I was getting worried I'd land on her and break her arm, and Will wanted to go home, so we called it a day.  I sure hope we can have a few more days to practice our sport.  Winter, please cooperate.