Potty Time

I've mentioned in a previous post that Jorryn has gotten very clever about trying to stall her bedtime. Her latest tactics are as follows:

Sitting Up in Bed: We'll put her to bed, but she'll insist that she wants to sit up and not lay down. So we'll tuck her in anyways, and she usually lays down before we walk out of the room.

Fresh Water: We keep a water cup in her crib, and she always insists on having fresh water (understandable). But even if we fill her cup with fresh water before putting her to bed, she *still* insists on fresh water, hehe.

Rinse the Binkie: Her pacifier has fuzz or a hair on it, and every night she wants us to rinse it, even though she's had it all day long without a problem.

Hungry: It doesn't matter that we just ate, she wants to eat a banana or some fruit!

Another Book: Even though the routine has been two books for months now, she still tries to sneak in a third book from time to time. To no avail, of course.

Turn Off the T.V.: If we accidentally leave the TV on, she will insist on "pushing the button" to turn it off for us.

Goodnight Cats: This one doesn't happen too often, but she has tried to run off to say goodnight to the cats. Usually, Toby and Spooky are in the room with us while we read books, so this one is not very effective. Tigger is still a meanie (although getting better) so she doesn't care for goodnight hugs.

The Bear and the Binkie: We must always go on a hunt through the house for the Bear and the Binkie. I think she purposely leaves them somewhere other than her room, so we can go on a short hunt before bed.

Finish the Milk: If she's been drinking a cup of milk, she'll insist on finishing it before bed.

I've saved two of the best for last!

Time Out: The other night, she wasn't ready for bed, so she slaps me on the arm and says "Time Out, two minutes!" and she goes and sits facing the wall, expecting to gain another two minutes for herself. Well, we didn't buy it, she went to bed anyways. Luckily, she hasn't tried that one again yet, although she does occasionally ASK for a time out, lol.

Using the Potty: In her efforts to stall bedtime, Jorryn has been training herself to use the potty. It all began as a stall tactic... she told us one night as we were changing her diaper before bed that she "needed to go potty". At first, we insisted that it was bedtime, but we decided to just let her go... she'd have to do it eventually anyways, so it was good practice.

So night after night, we'd go sit in the bathroom and she'd sit on her potty. She'd immediately ask for a magazine or a game. She likes to play handheld yahtzee (or at least she likes to play with the sounds it makes) and she likes reading magazines... She even has favorites too. Like the copy of Reader's Digest where the man on the front cover has a boo boo on his mouth (the image is of a man with a big bandaid stuck over his mouth). Nothing happened for the longest time and we'd sit there for 10 minutes at least. So finally, I decided that I wasn't going to sit with her any longer. I'd turn on the light and let her go potty and then John and I would wait for her in her room. She'd holler for us to get her another magazine and we'd holler back that she should get it herself. And then finally one day she hollered that she "did it!" And sure enough, we walk in there and she's peed in the potty. So we start cheering and clapping and hopping up and down and she starts cheering and gets excited too, shouting, "I did it! I did it!"

Well, now, one week later, she's peed in the potty six days out of seven, right before bed. And yesterday and today, she asked to use the potty while at work and peed in it both times! She's so ready for training! If only I had time right now! My work rush should calm down by the end of this month and I'm thinking of going all out and taking 2-3 days to just focus on potty training. I can't believe how grown up she's become already!