Potty Learning

There are many different opinions and techniques out there for getting your child potty trained.  I have two children and the approaches I used for each child couldn't be more different!

When L was born we lived in England.  I'd always believed before I had children that I would use cloth diapers mainly for environmental reasons.  When I first got to England and saw their appalling lack of recycling and care for the environment (sorry Brits but for someone coming from Vancouver Island that is how I felt) I decided that I would take the easy way out and go with disposables like everyone else.
I happily changed L's diapers until at 19 months I figured she was ready to start on the potty.  After much research I decided on the "cold turkey" approach.  This involved buying big girl panties, a potty and a potty book.  On the "potty" day we first read the book and then had a discussion about how she was a big girl and that she could now use the toilet like Mommy and Daddy.  There were no rewards or bribes, just a general understanding that this is what grown up people do.

L took to it pretty quick and after a week we pretty much had it down.  After a few months and the novelty had worn off we had a bit of a regression but in general it was pretty straight forward.

You can read about our experiences here.

Fast forward several years and we now have child number 2.  Since L I had done a lot of research on Montessori A to I and realised that cloth diapers were not only good for the environment but also aided potty learning as the child can feel when they are wet.
We were already living in Canada when LJ was born so I took the plunge I'd always promised I'd do and we cloth diapered.

When I started looking after Sweetpea LJ was 10 months.  She was already being put on the potty so I decided to try LJ.  He went on after meals and before and after naps.  He very quickly caught on to what he was supposed to do and we caught most of his poos.  Read about our adventures here.

I think the main reason we all stuck with this is because of the cloth diapers.  Yup it's way easier to clean poo out of a potty than a cloth diaper!
We continued on with this no pressure method of potty learning until LJ turned two and then I made the switch the underwear.  We've had some accidents but seriously a month later and he is telling us when he has to go and I'd say we are officially potty trained during the day.  Yay!

So the question is was either method better or easier?  I'd say nope.  Each one worked for our family at the time.  I think there is way too much hype and pressure about potty training just like there is for child rearing in general.
My advice would be to take whatever approach works for you and your child and to remember that it is a natural, organic process that will happen when the child is ready.

From the airplane

Although I've tried to wipe the memory from my mind : ) I thought I'd post about some of the things we did to keep busy on the 10 hour airplane journey. I actually managed to take a lot of pictures (nothing else to do!). Thank you so much to everyone who left comments about activities. I used a lot of your advice. Here are some of the things we did.

Sewing a button snake. I think this was originally on What Did we do all day? but I saw it on Counting Coconuts. I made one ribbon for each of us and this kept us busy for quite a while. I just kept all of the bits in a pencil case which kept the whole thing contained.

Shape matching. I just bent some pipe cleaners into different shapes and cut out some shape pictures from the Amazing Sticker Book. I also brought this lid from a shoe box to keep everything contained and we didn't drop or loose anything!

I got a great suggestion from Montessori Moments to bring some small presents to unwrap. My awesome aunt gave L a whole bunch and I brought them out at different times during the trip. They were all a huge hit. Here is a cool sticker activity with different farm scenes.

We also did some counting but by this point she was really tired so it didn't last too long.

The super cool Farm in a Tube. Thanks Auntie S.

We also did coloring, reading books, a really hard 3D magnetic puzzle and had tons of snacks. She also took a 2 1/2 hour nap which was the best part of the trip! he he

All in all she did really well and the cabin crew actually commented that she was the best behaved child they'd had on a long journey. We survived but it's not something that my husband or I want to repeat any time soon!

Not Long Now!!

Thanks everyone for the great advice. In the little spare time I have I've been making some projects up for the trip. I will take my camera and see if I can get any pics along the way. We're leaving on Thursday and still have TONS to do. My next post will probably be from Canada! Yippee!!
Poor L. The other day she was doing some baking with Granny and went to get her dustpan and broom to clean up a spill. Of course it wasn't there and she said "Oh no! It's already in Canada!"

Back to Montessori

Okay, sadly Halloween is over but we had a blast. Here are some activities L has been doing over the past couple of weeks.

Years ago I made a board game and made tiny pieces for it out of Fimo. Sadly it's too heavy to take with us so I thought I'd get some use out of it before I we leave. First L sorted the pieces into colors and then by object. Okay yes we did use the left over Halloween plates. (Helps with the withdrawal symptoms). I find it interesting how she mostly sorts all of one thing before moving on to the next.
Ages ago my mom made L this awesome button board out of felt and a cheap frame from Ikea. I just re-introduced it to L a couple of weeks ago and she can now open and close the buttons.

Okay I think my girl is a bit unusual with her obsession with puzzles! She got this small 30 piece puzzle in a Birthday card and after about three goes with help she can now do it all on her own. She does this puzzle almost every day and sometimes a couple times a day. I can't keep up with her! This is also the first puzzle that she's used the picture for a guide.

So I knew this gift from Granny would be a great hit and it was. I first saw Mighty Minds over at Aayla do! Montessori and asked my mom to get it for L. What a success. The other day she worked straight for 45 minutes and did 14 of the cards! I sit with her and only help if she gets frustrated and then will put maybe one piece in to guide her. She also finds them a bit slippery and sometimes has a hard time lining them up so I will help her by holding one of the pieces.

I love this activity because the first 15 cards have places to put the shapes she needs before starting the puzzle. She now also puts them back after she has done each card. I think I'll have to take them out one night and try to figure out the harder puzzles before she gets to them so I'll know how they go! How embarrassing!

L's Spooktacular Halloween/Birthday Party Part Two

Here is L's cake. I couldn't resist using the little tropical frogs. It was seriously experimental as I used blueberry jello for the pond and pistachio pudding for the grass. Yum yum.

I think one of my favorite bits of the party was after we sang Happy Birthday and L blew out her candles we started to sing Five Little Speckled Frogs. When we got to the jumped into the pool bit L took the blue frog and jumped it into the pool. Then all of the other children joined in and finally all of the frogs were in the pool. They loved it.

We had 17 adults at the party and we asked them to bring a carved pumpkin with them. We put them all around my uncle's back garden and the effect was breathtaking. A big thank you to Uncle Jason who took all of the night pictures.

Once it got dark we had a disco with sparklers and glow sticks and everyone danced the night away. It was totally fab! Now what am I going to do for next year.....

L's Spooktacular Halloween/Birthday Party Part One

I think I was truly blessed when my daughter was born so close to Halloween. Anyone who knows me knows I go a bit mad and absolutely LOVE Halloween parties. Since this would be L's last birthday in England I thought I would go all out. What fun!

We decided to have a night party and luckily the weather cooperated so we could have most of it outside. Here is L in her giraffe costume. The bizarre thing is that when I asked what she wanted to be she said "a giraffe" and I thought oh ya sure. Well the next day when I was talking to my mom she was so excited to tell me that she found a costume for L and yes wonder of wonders it was a giraffe. If only everything in life was so easy : )

We had lots of games set up outside. Here is the ghost skittle area.

A spooky center piece for the adults buffet table inspired by Chasing Cheerios.

and the piece de resistance.... the spider pinata. Here it is hung up inside

and here it is in action. The kids had a go and then we blindfolded the dads who all had a go. What fun.