I've potty trained three kids. It was no fun but I got through it more or less intact. One might think potty training a fourth kid would be no biggie. Hmmm. Just one more example of how very different each kid is. Mathilda is stubborn. She likes to be the baby. She likes to act like a baby. She makes me want to scream on a daily basis. And definitely not just for potty training reasons.
We have a little potty. We also have an insert for the big toilet. We have books and movies about the potty. We have older kids who are happy to encourage her and demonstrate how to use the potty. Goodness knows she never leaves me alone while I'm in the bathroom. So she's seen plenty. She knows what to do. She tells me pretty much every time she's gone potty in her diaper. Sometimes she tells me before she goes, and then holds it indefinitely as I rush to get her on a potty in time. She won't be bought with bribery and promises of treats and goodies. She has no problem running around the house naked and relieving herself wherever she happens to be at that moment. She's nonchalant about going potty in big girl panties. Wet squishy panties? Eh, whatevs.
is a kind of step stool that goes around the toilet to help little ones get up and down securely. It's plenty big enough and sturdy enough, and it doesn't slide around the floor. There's a raised pattern all along the top of it too, which helps little feet not slip. Some kids don't like their feet to be dangling several inches from the floor. With the Looster Booster they can rest their feet and feel safe.
Mathilda likes to be able to climb up on the toilet by herself, and get down with no help. But unfortunately she still doesn't like to actually use the toilet. Sigh.
I think the Looster Booster 
is a great product. Once Mathilda is ready to get down to the serious business of potty training, I know it will be a big help. Plus I will feel better knowing that she has a safe way to get up and down (my friend's daughter broke her little leg falling off the toilet).
I do have to note, the Looster Booster is pretty big. We have a small bathroom, and I find it a little awkward to use the toilet with it in place. So we do end up shuffling it around sometimes. However, I'm happy to accept the size because I know it will be a temporary fixture in our bathroom, and it will help my daughter to feel more secure and to be safer while learning to use the potty.
Have you seen or used the Looster Booster? What other tools do you have to aid in the potty training process? I want to know what tips and tricks have worked for you, because I am really terribly sick of buying diapers!
Disclosure: I received a complimentary Looster Booster for review purposes. All opinions expressed are 100% my own.
Here's what I'm thankful for this week...
- My friends. I love you all!
- Summertime.
- Beautiful weather.
- Perfect day at the splash pad/nature center/park yesterday.
- Free concert in the park last night.
- Awesome time at the park today.
- Connor's recent swimming accomplishments.
- That my mom got Lucy a super cute new backpack for kindergarten, and a whole bunch of school supplies for the kids.
- My father-in-law's pool.
- The opportunity to have my friend's kids as guests in our home for four days last week. My kids were ecstatic and we had such a great time together.
- My friend Cathy for giving Connor a place to go hang out with boys for a couple days while we had our guests (all girls!).
- That we made at least some money at our garage sale last weekend. And that we got our garage sort of cleaned up in the process of getting ready for the sale.
- My own little area that I'm working on in my family room, where I can sew and do my own stuff.
What are you thankful for this week?
Connor is sometimes a tough egg to crack. I understand him pretty well because we're a lot alike. Trying new things can be scary. Fear can be paralyzing. I get this all too well.
A couple weeks ago, Connor was pretty much terrified of the deep end of the swimming pool. Getting Connor to face and conquer his fears is a challenging feat, but sometimes necessary because we want him to feel a sense of accomplishment and to do things we know he'll enjoy once he stops being afraid.
Connor's always loved the water, in a safe way. As in, being able to touch the bottom or being held or being in a floaty or sitting on the steps. He didn't take very well to swimming lessons. But in the last year or two we convinced him to start swimming underwater to get him more comfortable, which he loved...in the shallow end. This summer we vowed we'd get him swimming for real. And lo and behold, he started swimming. In the shallow end.
Swimming in the deep end was the next step. We gently encouraged him and pushed him to try. Chris's dad has a big pool that's 10 feet deep. He told Connor he'd pay him $20 each way if he'd swim back and forth across the deep end. Connor doesn't forget much especially if it involves the promise of 40 bucks. I'm sure he was thinking about that money every time he went swimming.
Just over a week ago we invaded my father-in-law's house on a Sunday afternoon with a bunch of extra kids. And Connor earned his $40. We were ecstatic! We surpassed our goal of getting him to swim this summer - he is now swimming in the deep end like a pro.
But we didn't stop there. Right away we started badgering him (gently) to jump off the diving board. His response was pretty much "no way!" But we're persistent and we know our kid. We knew he would love to conquer the diving board. So this past Sunday we invaded my father-in-law's house yet again, this time with even more kids. Chris walked him out on the diving board, just so he could get the feel of it. And Connor said, "I'm gonna do it!" He let go of Chris's hand and jumped off the diving board. Now we can't keep him off the diving board or out of the deep end.
Overcoming fear is hard, but Connor did it. We knew all along that he could.
What I'm wishing for this week...
- I'm wishing for a miracle for Chris's cousin's little girl, who was recently diagnosed with lymphoma.
- I'm wishing for good health news for my friend Shelly.
- I'm wishing for new flooring in my family room.
- I'm wishing for Bethany to know her multiplication facts inside out, upside down and backwards before school starts.
- I'm wishing for Lucy to love kindergarten.
- I'm wishing for August to stretch on and on and on.
- I'm wishing for some exercise motivation.
- I'm wishing for Mathilda to sleep at night.
- I'm wishing for Mathilda to want to use the potty.
- I'm wishing for the cleaning fairy to come and clean my kids' bedrooms.
How about you? What are you wishing for this week?
Last week I had the opportunity to attend a parenting leadership training conference. A friend had emailed me the information and application a few weeks ago. It sounded interesting, and bonus! it was a paid gig. So I applied and was accepted.
First of all, the conference was at a college in a town I had never been to, about 2.5 hours from my house. Since it was so far away, my hotel and mileage were covered. This is just sounding better and better, isn't it?! And guess what? All the meals during the conference were included as well. But my point that I'm getting to is that my independence level was really stretched which was a great thing for me. I had never driven so far all by myself, or stayed by myself in a hotel. I didn't know anyone else at the training. Plus Chris had never stayed overnight with the kids by himself, so that was a good experience for him as well.
I had to leave our van with Chris in case he needed to transport our troop anywhere, and his car had just had a big repair done the day before I left, so I was a teensy bit leery of driving it that far alone. Since my phone is virtually always on roaming or out of service basically whenever I leave my neighborhood (I'm barely exaggerating...), that wasn't much of a consolation for me. So my mother-in-law offered me the use of her convertible. The drive was really lovely (although no top down - couldn't destroy my hair since I wouldn't have had time to fix it before training started). I wish I had had more time so I could have pulled over to take some pictures a few times, because the hills and farms and fields and animals I passed truly made for a scenic ride.
The hotel was right on campus, and the training conference was literally right down the hall from my room. Everything was so easy to find, and I was relieved that I didn't have to search all over the place for the hotel and the right building for the training. Sometimes easy is really nice. I arrived hours before check in time, yet I was able to get my room key right away. Over the course of the two days of training, all of our food was either right in the conference room, or set up buffet style in the hall with the dining tables at the back of our room. There were snacks and drinks and bowls of candy available to us all the time. Convenient and comfortable!
However, I was way out of my comfort zone, to be honest. And yet everything worked out so well. The group was a great size - about 20 people. The leaders were personable and kind. Everyone was friendly. I don't think I could have picked a better opportunity to go somewhere all alone, in a town I was completely unfamiliar with, without knowing anybody else there.
I'll do another post and actually share some of what the training was about. But I am really so glad I went. Staying overnight alone was scrumptious (yes I missed my family, but I still enjoyed the peace and quiet), and the drive home alone was with the top down was pretty great too.
