I had it coming...

If you aren't careful, toddler constipation can totally sneak up on you. I'd been lucky this far that we hadn't had any real issues. Eighteen months of breastfeeding and a kid who loves veggies had me far too complacent. Really, if I had been paying attention, I would have caught the signs.

Potty training masked the fact that our normally regular girl was no longer regular. While she was regular in her irregularity, I should have known. Then there was the eating. So far she has taken after her father's side of the family's ability to eat large quantities and still stay trim. In fact, with my eating less, she could eat as much if not more than I do. So when she recently slowed down her eating, a lot, I just figure she was finally acting like a normal toddler. I was enjoying having leftovers from dinner to take to work. Lastly, there was her horrible mood, all the damn time. She was always cranky, irritable, and stubborn. Which seems to be exactly the way anyone else in our house gets when they haven't gone enough.

By the time we figured out what was going on, it was too late. No amount of prunes and pears was going to change the fact that she needed to get rid of what was bugging her. Last Thursday was by far the worst. If it were not for the amazing Rita Arens and her book Sleep Is for the Weak I wouldn't have been nearly brave enough to do what needed to be done when she ran out of energy to finish things. Three times. (If you haven't read that book you should. Most of it is short enough to fit an essay or three into the little bits of me time you get)

It took days for things to finally clear up. We are now requiring veggies be eaten before anything, milk is being withheld until we have progress, and there will be a prune a day with breakfast. (she calls them donuts, I don't argue) I do not EVER want to go through that again.

The only thing we are struggling with still is that she isn't too keen on drinking water as much as she should. Another thing we've never had an issue with. I'm not fond of giving her juice, but to get fluids in her, I might have to resort to it. Any bright ideas? Also, favorite preschooler water bottle? We had planned on going Sigg, but given recent news, I don't feel any reason to support that kind of trickery. Maybe a new water bottle with help get interested in water again.

Weapon of Choice

I've heard about this phase from other parents. The phase after potty training when your child learns to use their bodily functions as a weapon. The three year old who pees in her pants when she isn't happy with the clothes she is wearing. The child who refuses to poop in anything but their pull-up. Eventually, I knew that M would achieve mastery of her own body enough to use it against me.

I fear it has only just begun. Each night we put M to bed at 7 in the vain home that she falls asleep quickly and the gets something close to the recommended 11 or so hours. Each night she plays in her bed, having in depth discussions about who's side of the bed is who's with her stuffed animals. We had been letting her read in bed until we found the corners chewed off of one of her favorite books one morning. Apparently it was just that good. Eventually she would fall asleep without issue. However, she has found a new way to get out of falling asleep.

Virtually every night, starting from 20 minutes after bedtime until nearly 9 o'clock she announces when she's peed in her pull-up. She isn't crying wolf either, she really pees. In fact she can do it every 20 minutes for two hours if she really wants to. Sometimes, for good measure, she poops. Each time, she demands a new pull-up. Her record, $2.55 worth of pull-ups in a single night. (that would be five of them) Oh yes, I've figured out the cost. I'd take it out of her college fund if she had one.

Initially when she started this she wasn't completely reliable on the potty and I was willing to give a little. I wanted to encourage her to want to be dry. Now I'm debating just letting her stay wet. Maybe letting her stew in it so to speak would encourage her to let us know she needs to use the potty. Of course, if she pooped, I'd change it. While I realize that will just keep us her loyal servants, at least she wouldn't be costing me. Better yet, maybe she would nighttime potty train.

If I put a potty in her room (the door is open with a gate to keep the dog out) will she just spend her night peeing in it and still not sleeping? If she can't see us (she can see me in the office from her room) or hear us (we can read books) will it keep her from being tempted to stay awake? Do they make toddler treadmills so I can just wear her out after dinner? Make daycare shorten her nap (which may happen some when she moves to pre-school this fall). Should we move her bedtime later and just accept she doesn't need as much sleep? Does anyone have a spare crystal ball

My Car Is a Port-A-John

Being a former stubborn and willful child, now a stubborn and willful adult, there are times that I forget what it was like to be a stubborn and willful child. Especially when it comes to potty training.

M is still, for all intents and purpose, potty trained. We have the rare #1 accident. (one that I can remember in the last week) Most #2's are done in pull-ups at nap or bedtime (or when she wakes up and lets us sleep in so she can do her business). #2's caught early enough can be redirected to the potty with minimal cleanup. All is good. Except...

Except that after an unfortunate #2 at a restaurant right as our dinner arrived Friday, we are still having issues with public potties. It may actually have been made worse. By me.

Today we had a really awesome play date with Kay & May from Cribsheet over at Java Train (way cool kid friendly, you have to go) in St. Paul. The plan was to hit the zoo when we were done so that M could see giraffes in person. However, I failed to realize in promising of giraffes that we would need to potty given the time in public. We tried, we really tried, but my poor daughter was paralyzed by fear. We even tried the threat. If you don't potty, you can see the giraffes. It had no effect. She would rather go home.

Realizing that it would solve nothing to go home, I came up with an idea. A spur of the moment idea. I had seen the Potette before. However, as a stubborn and willful adult, I foolishly thought that we would never need it. My brilliant daughter could pee on a big potty and would never go back. Hah!

So with a trip to Target Store #1, I quickly assembled my own port-a-john in my trunk. One froggy potty, one package of size 1 store brand diapers, one package of dog poop bags (cheaper than the diaper ones), one container of disinfecting wipes. We has success on a parking lot median. Cleanup was easy. We saw giraffes! We saw zebras!

We still have an issue with the setup requiring the car. Because of that we won't be doing the Dragon Boat Festival tomorrow, since there are only shuttles to the site. Restaurants may also be a challenge since I doubt anyone wants to see my hauling a potty to dinner. We've talked about it and realized that the best thing for us to do for now is just accommodate her. Getting her to this level at her age is wonderful. Pushing her won't actually make any progress, it has to be, as it always has been, on her terms. After all, she is a stubborn and willful child, just like her mom.

How about some questions?

Mostly parenting related, but some gardening too.

Toddler bed or twin bed? We found M with her foot resting on the top of the side of her crib a couple of nights ago. She was trying to escape and if I hadn't scared the crap out of her, she would have likely fallen pretty horribly. That combined with the diaper removal last week, and I think it is time to take the plunge. We have access to a free toddler bed, but would have to pay for a twin. I worry about transitioning twice.

Just how much can you prune off of a tomato and have it survive? I should have caged mine, I did not, they are falling over. I need cages, stat! I also need to cut them down. I have tiny tomatoes, so I'm trying to cut enough, without it being too much.

Two years old too young for fireworks? We could likely drive not that far and see some. Her bedtime is 7, she is up until 8, but they won't start around here until close to 10. I'm thinking one more year.

Why can't anyone figure out that women have larger feet than a 10? I swear to god it is starting to drive me absolutely batty that I have such limited choices in shoes. I need some dressy but comfy shoes for BlogHer, and for work. Anyone out there to prove me wrong? My left foot is an 11.5, my right is an 11. I can do 11-12 depending on style. Seriously. Show me that cute and comfy exists in larger sizes. I will love you forever.

Dino PJ's and Butterfly Tattoos

Dudes! That picture there represents some pure awesomeness. That is a temporary tattoo bribe. The holy grail of potty bribes for pooping in the potty (I coordinated bribes with daycare to make things easier). She's been raking in the stickers and M's for a couple of weeks now, accident free other than naps & nighttime. Oh, yeah, except the poop in the undies. All of that "get the poop stain out" magic I had to work when she was little has come in handy again (Dreft Stain Remover & Oxyclean thank you to my friend J, you know who you are). She's been a stand up pooper (you know, not a squatter) so I was totally shocked today when I heard the grunting in the bathroom and found a very stinky turd floating there. (seriously, how do such small creatures create such large turds) I'm not holding my breath that this keeps up, but I'll take one less set of dirty undies.

In other news, her low grade fever has now gone on for a whole near two weeks. We've gone as high as 100.7 in the evenings, and missed three days of daycare. Without it being a full blown illness, I'll be damned if I know that the F is going on. We go to the Dr. tomorrow.

Also, my tomatoes have outgrown their stakes and have a crap load of flowers on them. I'm twitterpated with excitement. Something is eating tiny holes in my jalapenos and I'm getting pissed about it, but they still have a ton of flowers. I also have one lone pea on one of the pea plants, with more on the way. I'm drooling just thinking about it.

Oh, and yes, that is my little girl wearing dino PJ's. Because until they start making the female legends of science pull-ups that my friend Kristen suggested, it is the least I can do to encourage her analytical mind.

Dresses, potties, and summer has arrived.

Class today at Crafty Planet was a huge success. MC (teacher) is wonderful, as always. I learned something that I didn't know before, but still finished enough ahead of the class to be able to get dinner and be home with plenty of time to spare. The dress is adorableness. You can actually get it yourself off of Etsy from Frog Legs and Ponytails. I think I'll try one of her other dresses since I like this one so much.

About to go try on my shoes.

Practicing her jumping for me.

Jumping away from me.

It has been a long but good weekend. Saturday, a whole day, no accidents. We put on pull-ups for naps and long walks (where they were needed) but managed to stay dry for going out to dinner. Today there were accidents, but she knows when she's had one (different than last time we tried this) and I think that is better than us making her go so much she stays dry. This way she learns.

I got a dress for BlogHer, and it is all kinds of Following The What Not To Wear Rules awesomeness. (I am additcted to that show) Now I just need to get back on my bike (still a little scared to) and start doing some push-ups and arm toning. It is sleeveless and while I have a sweater to go with it, it is not very Sparklecorn.

There is laundry to do, and my house is an inferno (we are still holding out on AC use until it hits 90). Local focus (it needs a name) will have to wait until tomorrow. I have a good one, it involves food. Awesome food.

P Colapse

I knew it, I knew I shouldn't have done it. I just didn't have anything else to write about. Blogging rule broken, and I am sufficiently sorry about it.

Today I traumatized my daughter and may just have completely undone all of the potty training progress so far.

Today, we went to the Zoo for day camp. We went early to look at sharks and stingrays. We tried to go potty by the sharks. But the toilet, it kept flushing. You see, all successful public peeing was in ancient bathrooms. Not nice new ones with auto-flushers. It flushed, and she cowered, and it flushed more, and more and more.

And then I, not knowing how to make it stop, and certain that if she would just pee the fear would be gone, pushed it. I pushed her, and may have completely traumatized her. I know I'm traumatized a little myself.

I now know about post-its (never leave home without them) and toilet paper, and where every bathroom you can make your daughter scream at the in the Zoo is.

As penance I went out and bought a small fortune in undies. Every kind of character undies (except the damn princesses) that I could find. Screw the expensive training undies, we're going full force. She can do it, I know she can. I got more jersey shorts/pants. We've got dresses coming out of our ears. If she has a 50 percent success rate, I should be good for two days without laundry.

Please, if you're listening universe, I'm sorry. I'm sorry I was so happy about it. It won't happen again.

ETA: I don't know if I dare write this, but in trying to get her to poop, she is now wildly (and I do mean wildly shrieking and giggling uncontrollably) by her own farts. I find it hard not to laugh wildly with her.

This post brought to you by the letter P.

I'm very conflicted about posting about potty training, but since other blogger posts about their trials & tribulations have been a source of both amusement and assistance to me, here we go. I give you some snippets of recent happenings, bullet points style.

• Despite being a regular small potty user at home, M experienced major big potty fears at daycare.
  
• Last Thursday, I offered to hold her hand while she tried it. It worked. We have been off and running ever since then. That day, she used it all day long. Even going without prompting.
  
• Including a 15 minute sit down with a favorite book. She is her father's daughter.
• Friday was another good day, she stayed dry from before nap to bedtime.
  
• Weekend of backsliding. Poop catchup was the major issue.
• However, first public restroom use, so it was a wash. Had to go four times during dinner, I may never get to eat dinner again.
  
• Monday, back at daycare. She's now taking herself without any help.
• She's even removing her pull-up and going commando for unknown length of time.
  
• At the suggestion of daycare, today we brought undies... and 10 pairs of leggings (only slightly exaggerating)
• Instructions from momma. Pull-up for nap (she hated it), back in pull-ups if there is an accident. Still not convinced that she knows when she has to go.
• Unfortunately confirmed she may not know. She was devastated about it though. Went to go before bus ride home, wet pull-up again. I am as confused about how ready she is as she is.
  
• Tonight, working more on pooping. Got her to try big potty at home. Back and forth between two potties at least 50 times before Momma requested a timer to convince her to stay. No poop, but peed.
• Tomorrow, a Zoo visit and day camp, pull-ups or undies? I am unsure. Perhaps there is a magic 8 ball for potty training