Thursday, June 28, 2012

Potty Talk

Peyton has been potty trained for about 6 months now.  By "potty trained" I mean peeing and pooping in the potty during the day, but still in a pull up during naps and bed time.  I lucked out and had a child that can't stand the feeling of a wet diaper, I think that's why potty training was so easy for us.  She will NOT poop in a diaper, even in her sleep.  I think we have had maybe 2 poopy diapers since she was potty trained and those were because she was sleeping so hard she just didn't wake up.  Lately she's been waking up dry after her naps, but I put on a Pull Up just in case. 

Over the past few weeks a lot has changed on the potty front.  Peyton has decided she likes going to the potty on her own, which is great.  She gets her stool in place, puts the potty seat on, pulls her panties down, uses the bathroom, then pulls her panties up and tells me (no, I didn't forget to include "wipes herself" in the list...we're still working on that one!).   She does this when she has to go #1 or #2, which is even more awesome.  But among all that awesomeness comes another new change.  She has started waking up at the butt crack of dawn yelling that she needs to go pee pee.  I thought it was her molars that were waking her up so early, but I'm realizing now that she feels the urge to go potty during the night and doesn't want to go in her diaper.  I hadn't even thought about nighttime potty training her any time soon, but it looks like she's leaving me no choice. 

So, I've decided to start with putting a little potty in her room.  Now that she's good at pulling her pants up and down, I'm going to see if she'll do it at night too.  Eventually I'll set it up so she can go from her room to the bathroom, but I think she may be a little too young to be willing to do that on her own.  Even with night lights, that's a scary thing at night.  I'm going to stick with using pull ups for now, cross my fingers, and see how this goes.  I welcome any and all tips!!!

Monday, June 25, 2012

Anniversary Weekend

This weekend the hubby and I celebrated 6 years of marriage, I really can't believe it has been 6 years already and we have a 2 year old! 


We headed off for our very first weekend away from our munchkin.  Edwin wasn't able to get any time off work, so we left for the beach Friday evening when he got off.  We spent Friday night, all day Saturday, and part of Sunday at the beach.  The weather on Saturday was perfect and we spent a good 3 1/2 hours out on the beach.  Of course I forgot to bring my camera so I have no pictures except the few we took on my phone! 

View from our room!

 Anniversary dinner

 Another view from our motel

It was a nice weekend away and even better to get some rest.  We were in bed before 10pm both nights and slept until close to 9am each morning...it was wonderful.  Even though we had a lot of fun, I was more excited to get home to this...


Monday, June 11, 2012

1...2...3...TIME OUT

I don't know who created the "I'm going to count to 3" method of discipline, but they're a freaking genius if you ask me!  Peyton has really been testing the waters lately, trying her best to see what she can and can't get away with.  This is especially difficult when your husband works shifts and you're left to be the "bad guy" 95% of the time. 

I've tried several methods of discipline, each of them working for a little while but inevitably backfiring eventually.  The No-No Chair worked wonders until her tantrums became just too wild to actually get her in the chair.  Spanking still works, but I don't want that to always be our go to method.  I'm a firm believer in spankings, but only for the really big things or when other methods fail. 

About 2 weeks ago I decided to try the 1-2-3 deal and I was blown away by how well it worked on Peyton the first time I did it!  She was in her bed and I was reading to her when she decided she was going to do everything she could to prolong this bedtime routine.  She was midway to the bedroom door when I said "Peyton I'm counting to 3 and you're going to time out!".  Now I still hadn't perfected our time out at this point, but it sounded like a bad thing so I went with it.  I put my fingers up and with my meanest "Mommy voice" I started.  I got to "tw.." and she was back in the bed so fast I barely had time to blink.  I felt such a sense of accomplishment.  It's the little things, if you have a toddler you understand. 

So I've done some tweaking and playing around and really think I've found a good thing here (for us at least).  For smaller things she gets the warning, then I count to 3 (always holding my fingers up as I count, something about seeing the countdown really messes with her), if she's still acting like a savage she goes to time out.  Time out is now in her bedroom and it works SO much better.  I always read not to do time out in their rooms, but recently I came across a book that says that's the best place and I think they're right.  Let's look at the facts...
                         1.  You know the room is safe and childproofed
                         2.  It's on of their favorite rooms in the house
                         3.  They feel safe in that room

You can use either a baby gate or childproof door handle, we use the door handle because that's on her door all the time.  I leave her in there for 2 mins then open the door and ask her if she's better now.  98% of the time she says yes, tells me she's sorry and gives me a hug.  We don't talk about the time out after it happens, I found that it agitates her all over again or embarrasses her. 

For major things, we skip the "count to 3" totally and she goes straight to time out.  By major I mean messing with an electrical socket, which may or may not have happened this past weekend.  In her defense she's NEVER messed with one, she was honestly just trying to iron a skirt. 

Edwin worked nights Thurs - Sun and I ended up acutally putting Peyton in time out 3 times total in 4 days.  We go some weeks with zero issues and she's good as gold, but then we'll have a few days that are just exhausting...this weekend was one of them.  I think I counted to "tw..." about 30 times, but she straightened up before I finished.  Each day I had to count down less and less, that's progress in my mind!

By the way...how long do 2 year molars take to come in, seriously?!

Wednesday, June 6, 2012

All Aboard the Choo Choo Train

I'd like to present...
the musical stylings of Peyton, performing a classic from Choo Choo Soul


Monday, June 4, 2012

It's Been a While....

We're back from 8 glorious days in Ocracoke, the best beach EVER!  It was perfect, absolutely perfect.  There's really nothing more to say about it. 

Coming back to work has been so incredibly hard.  I miss sitting on the deck and staring out at the water, I miss drinking beer from about 11am - 11pm, I miss seeing how much my baby girl loved the beach, I miss spending time with my little family and our amazing friends everyday. 

The hubby and I are hoping to go back for a long weekend in a few weeks to celebrate our 6th wedding anniversary.  This would be our very first weekend away from Peyton! 

Here are some pics from the trip...I took about 200, but I promise not to post them all! 

*Please excuse the pictures of me.  I have zero makeup on and horrible beach hair (I look pretty scary with my bangs pulled back)*






 Yes, my child is actually skateboarding without any help!!!



 Ferry hair!



 Sometimes you just need to climb a tree...

Our purple/gold ECU house!




 The view from our deck...and that dock across the street was ours as well.  We sat out and listened to the live music at the bar next door every night (yes there was an outside waterfront bar right beside our dock!)

 The view from our dock





 What we did every night after the kids went to bed...perfection!

 Flying her princess kite