Updates and How I Potty Train

noteworthy for my memory that i forgot to add…

g was doing great potty training about 2 months ago and then stopped.  abruptly.  and so, as i have with the other two instead of stressing out and stressing her out i did what actually works.  i bought a box of diapers.  and got happy.  and took the pressure off.  and just the other day she decided she didn’t want to wear a diaper.  and that’s great.  we make it her decision.  so, “of course you can go without a diaper.”  her:  “yay!”  me:  “so, now you get to go in the potty like the big girl you are!”  notice the spin  ;)  and of course her counterpoint, “no!”  “oh, but, that’s how it goes – no diaper then yes potty.”  and it becomes her decision.  her power.  and we’re a few days in with one accident.  but flexible is the name of the game and if she decides that she wants (or needs however you see it) to have accidents again frequently then we’ll have the discussion again.  and we’ll go back to diapers.  and as long as we make it outside of us (one equals the other, it’s not just my whim, hence a power struggle ensues) then she has the decision.  and i have the knowledge that she won’t go off to college in diapers.  she’ll eventually decide that diapers just aren’t cool.

g also still has her paci.  i think she has officially passed my oldest’s age of when he gave up the paci.  we’ll eventually take it.  sometime in the next few months.  we let them keep it through the adjustment of the new baby.  and then with her we just haven’t gotten up our gumption to volunteer for the hell that will inevitably break loose when we pull it.  and like the above discussion i’m sure we’ll make it somehow her decision.  i’ll keep you updated.

j2, my youngest, has taken to the paci.  and sadly, for the cuteness factor, has given up his thumb and his lovey.  i’ve become the lovey and he’s traded the thumb for the paci.  but he’s a balance of his 2 older brothers.  he likes it, but doesn’t have to have it.  his oldest brother couldn’t live without it (just like their sister) and his other brother absolutely refused a paci.  so, i would imagine that he won’t keep the paci as long as his sister.  but, again, i have too many other things to worry about.  so we’ll fight that battle when it presents itself.