More Updates!

The past few days have been absolutely gorgeous out, so we've been spending a lot of time outside. I thought that going outside would encourage the Guppy to walk more, but apparently she is happy crawling through the grass. The Mermaid has also been doing more writing besides her name. The other day she wanted to draw a picture of the Knight and when she finished she asked me how to spell Daddy. I wrote it out for her in the corner and she wrote it herself perfectly, at the top of the paper.In other news.....The Mermaid has finally started to use the potty!!!!! I'm so thrilled. Thursday afternoon, I watched as the Mermaid changed her own diaper. That was kind of the kicker for me; obviously if she can change her own diaper, she's ready to use the potty. She has been ready for a while, she just never wants to take the time to stop playing to go sit on the potty. So, Friday morning when she woke up I told her that she was a big girl now and that it was time to say goodbye to diapers. We both said "Bye bye diapers" and then I told her that she could wear "princess panties" and a "princess dress" if she used the potty. She agreed.

Friday she had 5 or 6 accidents and didn't use the potty once. Needless to say it was very frustrating to see her sit on the potty for 15 minutes, stand up to go play, then two minutes later pee all over the floor. But I managed to remain patient and didn't quit and put her back into a diaper.

Saturday, when she woke up I sat her on the potty right away and she went, yahoo!! She got all excited. On Saturday she had only two accidents and the rest of the time she used the potty, she was so proud of herself!!

Sunday I put her on the potty again right away and she went again. The entire day she only had one accident, and it was because the Guppy had moved the potty and she couldn't find it in time. Today, so far, she hasn't had a single accident and has used the potty twice. I am so proud of her and so psyched!

So, a question for those veteran potty trainers out there: today we are going to go to the park, and as much as I don't want to put a diaper back on her, I feel that I don't have a choice as I don't want her to have an accident and make a mess while we are out and about. How did/do you handle going out of the house while potty training?

More Updates!

Patience is a Virtue...

...and it's one virtue that I simply lack. I really do not have any patience. I'm one of those people who have a million unfinished jobs sitting around the house, because of the fact that I don't have enough patience to finish a job. When I want something made, I want it made now. This is why I am so horrible at sewing. Pinning fabric together? Nah, takes too long. Pressing fabric? Nah, takes too long. And then I wonder why everything I sew comes out horrible. But I digress...the real reason I am writing about my problem with patience has to do, suprisingly, with potty training.
Lately I've been finding myself becoming more and more impatient with the fact that the Mermaid is not yet potty trained. This leaves me to do something that I swore I would never do - compare my child to other children. My impatience leads me to think to myself, as I am changing the Mermaid's diaper, "So and so's child is potty trained. Why isn't the Mermaid?"
Now, I also swore to myself that I would never push my child into doing something that she wasn't ready to do. Thus, my belief in child-led weaning and the fact that the Mermaid will remain in our bed until she decides to move into her own room. I have no problem giving little nudges to help my child along, but I refuse to push them before they are ready. So, while I haven't done anything to push the Mermaid into potty training, I have tried to nudge her into it. I bought a sticker chart for when she does use the potty, I've read books to her about it, I've bought her Dora underpants, etc. But so far, she is content to remain in diapers, much to my ever-increasing dismay. She has shown signs of being ready to use the potty....for instance, she does like to sit on the potty, but doesn't actually use it...she will run and tell us when she has a dirty diaper so that we can change it, etc. But if I ask her if she wants to use the potty she wants nothing to do with it.
We are also getting a lot of comments from family members, which certainly doesn't help. You know, the usual, "She's over two years old, she has to be potty trained" (Although I would love to be shown the law that states once a child is two years old they must be potty trained @@). People I've spoken to say, don't push it, one day she will just decide that she wants to use the potty. They tell tales of how their child just one day up and decided that diapers weren't for them and never looked back. This would be my ideal situation with the Mermaid, but agian, my impatience is driving me to wonder if she will EVER just decide that diapers aren't for her anymore.
I guess I just have to sit back and remind myself that the time will come. She won't be in diapers for the rest of her life. In the meantime, does anyone out there have any tips? Am I going about this all wrong? Is there a better way? Or am I just a lazy parent who isn't putting enough effort into the process? For those parents who were in my situation, please give me assurance that my daughter will not be in diapers when she is five or even four...a little assurance will do me a lot of good right now...

Patience is a Virtue...