by the way

Check out the new blog on my blog roll, Abby Leigh. She's the daughter of a coworker of John's sister-in-law. She needs a heart.

some encouragement

This morning at 4:00am Malachi woke up. It seems that every morning it gets earlier and earlier. When we started potty training he got up at 6:30 the first time. I fear that by the time we get to Minnesota in a couple of weeks he's going to be getting up at 2:00am, so please pray for that. I know it's because he needs to go potty but up until this morning he would hold it so long that he would just be up at that time.

This morning at 6:00 I told him that he was going back to sleep. He peed around 5:00 so I knew that, that wouldn't be a problem. Thank God he went back to sleep and slept until 7:30.

Anyway...the bit of encouragement is this. When he got up at 4:00 and 7:30 I let him stay in his room a couple of minutes instead of running in there right away (mostly because I was super tired). Both times he was dry! It seems that now I don't have to run as soon as I hear him sigh when he wakes up.

great day after a so-so night

We went to a first year birthday party last night and I used up his change of clothes because of an accident and then he had another one. I'm proud to say I didn't let it get me down. I'd be so silly to assume that we wont have any more accidents.

Malachi woke up dry and we had a dry trip to Wal Mart. He's gone pee in the potty twice this morning and poo too! What a good little boy.

I'm still deciding if I want to go to church tonight. I'm a little afraid he might have an accident.

Another milestone!

Malachi let daddy take him to the potty today! Yay!!!!! I feel a little more free now that he's done that.

Today Malachi peed five times with only one accident. So, it's obvious that he didn't hold it long today. He did hold after the first time for about an hour and a half or two, so I thought he was going to be holding it for a while, but he proved me wrong.

I'm so proud of him today!

Update on the weekend and today

We had a really good weekend. There was only one time when Malachi was out of bed that he wet his pants and the other two times were when he was in bed. This is so awesome! I can't believe that my little boy is going pee in the potty.

On Saturday we went to the Zoo and dinner at Chili's to celebrate the great success he had been having. The whole trip was a dry trip. We knew that by the time he got to Chili's he had to go potty but every time I offered to take him to the bathroom he didn't want to go. He held it all the way home, what a good boy!

Sunday we didn't go to church because I was too sick, but we did go to Wal Mart because we were low on food. He had to go potty at Wal Mart too. When we were on our way into the handicap stall he decided he didn't want to go. That was fine, he'd never gone on a big potty or outside of our house. Later when I was in front of the deli counter John told me he said he had to go. So Malachi "flew" like an airplane while mommy ran to the potty. He was such and awesome boy and peed in the big potty at Wal Mart! We took care of two milestones with one potty time. He made us so proud! Instead of two m&m's he got a cookie!

Oh...and today he went poop in the potty! Super yay! This is such a great achievement for him and me. I'm so relieved that he did this!

Now we need to work on night times and letting Daddy take him (he only lets me).

I'm so happy that he's doing so well. Thank you God.

A close on Day 5

After I blogged last time the day went great! Malachi didn't hold onto his trend to hold his pee for 3-5 hours. He peed at least four times before his nap. I was so excited to be making that progress.

When I got him from his nap he was wet and poopy. Yesterday he pooped in the bath two times, and honestly I'd rather have poopy pants than poopy bath. I wasn't very upset about it because I knew that if I got upset then Malachi would get upset. So I gave him a bath - where he pooped again :)

The afternoon was a great time for us! At about 3:30 I was reading a book and Malachi was running around the living room to his Bible Songs CD, he ran up to me and said that he had to go poop in the potty (that's what he says no matter what he has to do in the potty), he ran to the bathroom ahead of me and waited for me to take his underwear off and sit him on the potty and as soon as he relaxed he peed! This was such a victory for me because finally, he did what I've been trying for 4 1/2 days to get him to do! Then, throughout the evening he did the same two more times, a third time I carried him to the potty because of the times leading to that trip where he said he had to go, but changed his mind. I knew he had to go, so I decided to not give him the opportunity to change his mind again.

The last time he went potty today was right before bed. John put Malachi on his lap and told him what he needed to do before bed:

1. Go potty
2. Put PJ's on
3. Read a book with Mommy
4. Go to bed

Well, that's exactly what we did. What a great big boy I have! I certainly do not think we have arrived. We still need to work on pooping in the potty. But I feel so great knowing that there is a hurdle in our lives that has been conquered.

Day 5 under way

Day 4 ended pretty well. Malachi and I tend to do a lot better when John is around and he skipped school last night to stay with us. He truly had been my rock through this.

Malachi woke up today and I didn't hear. I had slept out in the living room because of my symptoms. John rushed out to me at 7:00 and told me that Malachi was up and that for some reason his alarm didn't go off. So I got into Malachi's room as fast as possible and found a dry boy! I was so happy!!! He didn't want to go potty though.

He did however go through three pair of underwear because he was holding in pee, but hadn't peed since yesterday so a little bit would come out. But when I tried changing his underwear he would get really upset. Finally we went into his bedroom to play and I think he couldn't hold it any longer and started peeing. He finished in the potty, yay!!

It's been over an hour and every time I ask if he needs to pee I don't get an answer. I think I'll do better today with my attitude though, and I think that will help Malachi.

Please continue to pray that he'll get over this aversion to going potty until he has no choice and can't hold it any longer. Also please pray that my drainage, congestion and cough will go away.

Thanks!

Things to pray for

1. I'm sick please pray for the chest congestion and drainage to go away and for me to have energy to get through the day.

2. Please pray that Malachi will get over his small fear of the potty. He holds in pee and the longer he holds it the more afraid of it he gets. It puts a strain on both of us because he starts to get really distressed.

3. Please pray that I will keep my attitude and mood consistent to help Malachi along.

Thanks.

Day 3 and start of day 4

Well yesterday ended up being a bad day for Malachi and me. It was all my fault though. I really had started letting my emotions get a hold of me and Malachi caught on when I wasn't happy. LOOOOOOONG story short, Malachi grew a fear of going in the potty. But after we calmed down and he napped he did a lot better than yesterday morning. But we're not where our progress should be and I take full responsibility.

This morning he was soaked with pee when I got to him and he pooped in the tub. But he did pee in the potty after I put him in the bath (nothing like a tub full of warm water to make you want to pee). So he's going to get a sticker for peeing in the potty and he's excited about that.

Please keep us in your prayers. I'm needing to be a positive and upbeat person this whole day with Malachi and now that I'm sick, that will be a challenge.

Day 2 finished and Day 3 going strong

I forgot to do an update last night at the end of day 2. I was pretty tired last night so I did some dishes and went straight to bed.

So yesterday I got him up from his nap and I was so pleased to find a dry crib! Yay!!!!!! That really helped me feel good. Then we had one more time where Malachi went in the potty and we had another time where we didn't pee in the potty. That got me really discouraged. BUT....

When Malachi started making noise this morning at 6:30 I was pretty upset because I was going to get him up at 7:00 and then hopefully go to a dry crib and get him to the potty before he did anything. So I thought, since he woke up before I could get to him that for sure he would be all wet...nope! I went to a dry Malachi and the first pee he had today was in the potty!!!!

He was eating his snack (his reward for peeing in the potty, which I don't tell him is a reward) and I was rinsing dishes (didn't finish them all last night) when he said that he had to go potty. Unfortunately he had already pooped in his underwear. Fortunately for me it wasn't very messy. We made it to the potty in time for it to make it in the potty instead of the underwear. So in the first half an hour we had a successful pee in the potty and his first poop since putting on the underwear. I'm feeling great about today! Oh and when he finally peed in the potty this morning I had left the bathroom to get something and when he pooped he was sitting alone at the kitchen table, so maybe I need to leave the room for him to pee. We'll see.

So yesterday we're thinking that he didn't pee as much because we watched movies. He tends to not pee when we're doing that. So today...no movies. Lots of liquids and lots of peeing in the potty.

I'll try to remember to update later.

Day 2 So Far

Day 2 has been surprisingly uneventful. He woke up early and had emptied his bladder in bed which is too bad, but certainly not the end of the world. When I got to him (I moved pretty fast) the pee was still warm, but he didn't have any left for the potty.

He peed in the potty about an hour later and hasn't peed at all since. He did sit on the potty two or three times after saying he had to pee. He didn't pee in the potty, but he didn't pee on the floor either. John suggested that he didn't get enough to drink, but I've given him at least one and a half juice boxes, maybe even two. So I don't know why he isn't peeing.

I fear that he'll be emptying his bladder in bed again. I did try to emphasize that we pee in the potty not in bed. We'll see if it holds. I'm going to wake him up (hopefully) from his nap and hopefully we'll make it to the potty in time to avoid wetting the bed.

Sorry there isn't much to tell. I'm not really discouraged at this point, just sleepy. I think he is getting a hold of the idea that we pee in the potty and not in the underwear. He's excited about no more diapers, frequently throughout the day he says "no more diapers!" and I reply with "yay, underwear!" and "yay we pee in the potty!"

I can't wait until I can brag that my child is potty trained. Oh, by the way, final tally of underwear used yesterday was 18. So far today we're on number 3. It's a big difference from number 11 that we were on at this time yesterday.

Day 1 is All Done!

Well I was pretty discouraged when I posted last time and the discouragement lasted until about 5:00.

When I got Malachi up he wasn't dry, his: shirt, underwear, fitted sheet, and top sheet were pretty soaked with pee. Thankfully he hadn't pooped!! So I stripped him of his clothes, and stuck him in a bubble bath. He really liked that and he smelled good after it, instead of pee and sweet.

The afternoon was the same as the morning, lots of pee on the floor and underwear but not in the potty. Then John walked into the door and Malachi almost instantly started peeing. I whisked him away to the bathroom...and he peed in the potty!!!! What a joy it was for me to have that victory! I was so happy about that. It only took about 12 pair of underwear and 15 times on the potty for him to finally do it.

Since then he had peed in the potty one more time. He likes to do it as much as I like him to do it because he likes the song his potty plays when he pees. The last time he did it and after the song played he said, "again?!"

My heart is over filled with joy right now because I know it's all up from here!

Day 1

Today is Day 1 of potty training. We're using the three day system, and I'm hoping that's all it will take. So far today I'm getting discouraged, but I know that it will take time. I just put him down for a nap and am praying he wakes up dry. It was a little strange not changing his diaper before his nap.

John thinks that maybe the first day of this is to train the parent. Maybe he's right. I'm learning how to better interact with Malachi during this.

Keep us in your prayers as this day goes on. Hopefully it will get easier over the next couple of days.

Our Next Big Hurdle

Probably the most scary thing I've had to face as a mother is potty training. So far it is the largest and most daunting task. When Malachi was five months old we thought about starting a system with out diapers that teaches them to potty train usually by the time their 2 1/2. But it requires a lot of work for the parents and we decided that it would be best for us to stick with diapers.

Part of the reason people do that kind of system is to not put the child through trauma during the potty training process. John and I both said that we can't remember the potty training time in our lives and if there was any trauma sustained it certainly didn't affect us as adults.

So now here I am, almost two years later and I have to do this thing that I thought would be ok. I am so scared. Luckily for me this is just a phase and when this phase is done I'll not have to deal with any more poopy diapers!

Everyone seems to have an opinion on how he should be trained. Especially people that have gone through it. John and I have been working together so far to start the pre-potty training process and I think we're doing really well.

So far we've:

1. Taught him his body parts and what they do (I think he's mostly got that down).
2. Bought him a potty, let him sit on it with clothes on and off.
3. Switched to the toilet with his attachable chair for easy sitting.
4. Deposited dirty diaper contents into toilet and let him flush, teaching him where dirty diaper contents really go.

And now I think he knows what his body is doing when he's going potty and sometimes (like last night in the car) will announce when he's going potty. These are all great steps to getting him potty trained and putting them out like this encourages me on how ready he is.

John and I are going to buy and e-book on a three day system. I wish I could say that after three days that'll be it and we'll be all done training. However, I have to expect that it will take longer. Although I can pray and believe that God can help us in this transition and that it will be easier than I think. I should also look at this as a time for mother and son to learn together and to bond over a big step in both our lives.

So I hope this post hasn't been too gross for y'all. I'll keep you updated (with the grossest stuff left out).