Potty training is indeed an adventure in itself.
My little girl was the perfect, happy baby — no chronic crying, no wailing in the middle of the night (which meant straight 6-hour sleep for me, even when she was just a newborn), no teething blues and crankiness, no fuss when I had to wean her from the pacifier and from the baby bottle. Well, except for the fact that she developed some kind of lactose intolerance during the few months before she turned one, she was really perfect. I didn’t feel the need to buy any baby rearing books.
However, when it came to potty training, I had some bit of difficulty. Now, I have to admit Athalia’s not really advanced in all aspects of child development. She learned to walk rather late, especially when compared to other toddlers (she was 14-15 months old when she took her first few steps without assistance). She learned to talk rather late, too. In fact, at two years and 3 months old, she is still speaking in one- and two-syllable words (like “baba” for buhbye, “te pe” for water please, “seh” for sorry, “bu” for I love you). She doesn’t know her ABC’s and her numbers yet. Although she can recite the first few letters of the alphabet and numbers 1 to 10 in her usual “ngo-ngo” fashion (wa, tu, tee, fo, fa, seh…), she doesn’t really know yet how the letters or the numbers look like when written (except perhaps for the letter M — because that’s what she sees on her favorite chocolate, M&M). She also doesn’t know her colors yet.
So back to potty training. A few months after her first birthday, we got her a potty chair, which we left at her Grandma’s house where she stays most of the day. We gave her directions on how and when to use it. But maybe the chair came at a time when she wasn’t ready to be potty trained yet, or maybe I wasn’t there to really supervise her use of it, so it didn’t really work. She sat on it during play and made it into an ordinary kiddie chair.
Around a month ago (which is around a year after we got her first potty chair), I figured it was really time. This was because she’d give signals when she’s about to poop, and sometimes she’d even try to take her diaper off. She also demands to wear only her panties in the afternoons and she’s starting to find her nappies uncomfortable. We got her a new potty chair because I know she can no longer associate the old chair with pooping or peeing — or, I thought, at least not in Grandma’s house. (I got the same cheap model but in a different color, because the really nice, cushioned ones are so friggin’ expensive!) So I left the new one at Grandma’s, and got the old one for our house. I figured the switch will help us have a fresh start at potty training.
Every time we’d notice her turning red and about to poop, we would hurriedly take off her pants and her diapers and lead her to the potty chair. At first, there are times when she’d make it, but more often, she either wouldn’t get there on time, or we’d get a false alarm. I also decided to use the reward method. I tried preparing stickers and telling her she’d get one if she uses her chair. That wasn’t successful as she’d beg to have the stickers and I’d find it hard to resist. So I got face paint sticks as substitute. I drew stars and flowers and butterflies on her arm as a preview of what she’ll get as a reward when she uses her chair.
I guess the arm tattoos worked, as slowly, day by day, she’s getting the hang of using her chair. At first, the stats were poor (but good enough for us!). But nevertheless, she looks forward to having an artwork on her arm when she wakes up, as a reward for her achievements the day before (she doesn’t really mind the delayed reward). Her favorite tattoo design is the letter M, or, to be more exact, the McDonald’s logo. LOL.
Her milestone last week was when, for an entire day, she didn’t get any of her diapers and panties wet!!! Hurrah for my big baby! She peed in her potty chair five times and pooped into it once. In return, I drew five stars and a moon on her arm.
Right now, she can go through a day without wetting her undies. She can even last the entire night with her diaper completely dry. I thought it would take a few more months to train her not to wet the bed, but I guess she can already hold her bladder well enough.
I can’t help but think my little girl is almost a grown-up. However, I don’t want to think of the time when I will be sending her to her classroom for her first day of school.
I look at my body now and I cringe. Big, flabby upper arms. Bloated mid-section. Invisible waist. Large ass and saddle bags. My husband says I am slowly getting to be a pear-shaped woman… although he says he doesn’t mind at all (which I believe because he is also gaining as much weight as I am). When people comment about how much extra pounds I have lying around, I always say in defense that I am on BCP and have more eating appetite than I used to. I also think the culprit is this 12nn-10pm work schedule I have. My body clock has never been good at adjusting and now it’s gone totally haywire. Eating late doesn’t help me at all, but I also cannot avoid it, considering I work until late at night and starving myself after 6 o’clock means going to sleep with a tummy full of gas.
anecdotes about me was when I was not quite four years old and I’d shout “Cory-Doy!” with the Laban hand sign every time I pass by a group of people. I believe she was the only president who’s not corrupt. She was the only one who feared God enough not to abuse her power. Yes, she was quite “incompetent” and relied on a bunch of advisors, but considering that she lacked any prior political experience aside from being a politician’s wife and serving other politicians coffee, I think she did really great. Yes, it was Ramos who actually got the country stable and even made it into an “Economic Tiger,” but it would have been impossible for him to do it without Cory paving the way.
