Potty Training Help

I need help. Gabby is ready to start potty training but I am at a loss for how to proceed. My M.O. in raising my children has been to find parenting books and/or magazines with advice on how to do something and then try it out. When Gabby was a baby I did nothing without consulting my trusty baby book. Now I am looking at a new hurtle to cross, one I have never looked forward to, and I am in search of a good book to help me along the way. Does anyone have any advice on a good book (for me, not for Gabby) that I could read to help me get the job done? I like things with step-by-step instructions. :)

I saw something online and was also wondering if anyone had heard of this program and how good or bad it is: 3 Day Potty Training (dot com). The reviews I saw online really were positive, but the website asks for all this personal information. I'm not sure if I'm ready for that kind of a commitment. I just thought I'd ask cyberspace what ya'll thought before I dive into it.

I've heard the Elmo Potty Time DVD is good too. I thought about getting that. There is a long wait list at my library for that one. Must be good. Who doesn't love Elmo, right?

Sasha's New Milestone

Sasha and I were having some tummy time today and she rolled over from her tummy to her back! Yeah! Proud Mommy here has to share it with the world. :) Sometimes I feel like I am not paying enough attention to her or helping her along in her development, so to see something as cool as this makes me feel a little better. Glad to know that kids can still grow and develop like they should without my 100% attention to their every detail. I still feel like I am only raising Gabby some days, as she is now so verbal and demanding of my attention. Sasha will be there soon enough, I'm sure.

The Post-Vacation Let-Down

We've all experienced it. You go on an exciting vacation. Something new and different. Exciting new experiences awaiting you and you have a great time. Sometimes you make new friends. Sometimes you see old friends. Whatever the situation you are always excited to go. And then you have to come home. Home seems so boring after you have been away and you inevitably feel a huge disappointment once there. I'm pretty sure that my 2-year-old was experiencing that post-vacay let-down today, as she was driving me CRAZY!!! All day long demanding my attention, crying, being the drama queen that she is (thanks Aunt Cami for that inherited trait!).

Gabby had her first time-out today. I gave Sasha a bath this morning and when I was getting her dressed and putting on the lotion Gabby informed me that she would like some lotion too. I asked her if it was for her or for Sasha, as she likes to smear it all over her sister and I was not in the mood to deal with that today. But she said that she wanted it for herself. So I gave her a little dab on her right hand. Normally I give her a small dab on each hand, but this time I didn't. Well, she immediately began to complain. I told her to use what I had given her and I would give her some more in a minute, as I was temporarily occupied smearing lotion all over her sister. The words had barely left my lips when Gabby's tears sprang to life. I asked her to stop crying and told her I would give her some more (crying has become her tatic for asking for things, I am trying to not give in to this as I am sure it will just encourage more crying). Please stop crying. More crying. Crying turned into screaming. Screaming turned into screaming and crying. "I want it! It's mines! I want lotions!" Talking to her was not working. By this time we were in the living room so I took her to the kitchen, put her on a kitchen chair and set a timer for 2 minutes. Told her to stay on the chair until the buzzer rang. She immediately got off and went to the living room, still crying. I carried her back to the kitchen chair and started the timer over. Don't get off the chair! She got off again, with only about 30 seconds left. Back on the chair. One more minute on the timer. Less crying. Now she's watching the timer, watching me, trying to put her feet on the floor, see how much she can get away with. The timer rings. No more crying. Now the talk.

Me: "How do we ask for things? Crying is not a good way to ask for things. How do you ask for lotion?"

Gabby: "Please!"

Me: "Good. Give me a hug. I love you. Please don't cry when you want something."

Well, that was the jist of it anyway. Then we went on, as if the incident had never happened. But then she only took a 40 minute nap (at least she took one. I shouldn't complain). We had to go to Bakersfield this afternoon. The whole way there I hear this:

"Mommy I hungry. Mommy I want my movie. Mommy look at me! Mommy watch this! Mommy, look Jasmine!"

UGGH!!! Just watch your movie and leave me alone for a minute! She finally settles down. We go to the bank. We are meeting with bank personelle (is that how you spell it? well you know what I mean). She sits on Daddy's lap. She sits on my lap. She plays with the pin keypad. She plays with everything on the desk. She is crawling all over me, all over Daddy. She finds a new fast-food straw in the diaper bag. Paper everywhere. She is on the floor, under the chair, behind the cubicle shouting "Mommy, look at me! Mommy I see you! Daddy I see you!"

Finally it's time to leave. Yeah. We're hungry. Go to a restaurant. "Mommy I want pizza (pronounced pizta)." This retaurant doesn't have pizza (that wasn't annoying, just so cute so I thought I'd throw it in there). We order our food, Gabby is coloring on the kid's menu. Thank goodness for crayons. A moment's rest. Then Gabby starts to stand up and look over the partition at all the other patrons. One family in particular has captured her attention and she seems to not be able to sit down for anything. We have to tell her to sit down. Repeatedly.

Nana calls just as our salads are coming. During the course of our conversation I am reminded of something that I was annoyed with the day before. After I hang up I start complaining about it to Jay when Sasha wakes up and demands her dinner. So I am trying to eat and feed her at the same time in a skinny booth with not much room between me and the table. Gabby is eating off of our salads and having some bread. Still standing up to stare at the neighboring family. However, now she has added the crawling under the table routine. Over to my side, back over to her side, back under to sit by my legs and peer across the aisle, back to her side to eat her dinner. Spilling her dinner all over the seat because she is being silly with her utinsels. Crawling on Daddy. Announcing that she is done when we have just started eating. Back under the table again. Now she has switched sides and is sitting next to me eating her dinner. Wiping her hands on my clothes (or trying to). Back under the table to go look at Sasha. Back under to sit next to me. "I'm done!" Taking her shoes off. Back under the table. UGGHH!! Can we leave?!?! Sasha is crying now because she didn't get enough to eat. I'm going to the car.

Finally we are able to leave that horrible restaurant experience. We get on the road, our 45 minute drive home. Five minutes into it I hear from the back seat "Mommy, I hungry." Too bad!! You should have eaten more than 5 bites of your dinner. Thirty seconds later "Mommy I hungry." I just ignore her. Twenty seconds later "Daddy I hungry." Wow, this is going to be a long car ride. But then she gets distracted by her movie and suddenly we are home. I am anxious to get her in bed as she is really driving me crazy.

It doesn't stop. All up to bedtime she is jumping on both of us or demanding our attention. I am sure that this is just her way of dealing with a deplorable lack of attention after almost a solid month of people paying attention to her all the time. (Three week vacation in Utah with relatives and then Nana came and stayed at our house for about 5 days). Maybe all toddlers are like this, but mine has not been up until now. Today I needed Sasha to be a toddler too so I could have a moment's peace.

Sleepy-time headaches

Ok, so what's going on with my daughter? We moved her from her crib to a twin bed the Monday after Thanksgiving. I was mentally preparing for the worst, and it actually went very smoothly. She went to bed just fine, stayed in bed until she fell asleep, didn't make a fuss. We didn't have to stay in there with her for any amount of time, and the bedtime routine was fairly short: put her in bed, pull up the covers, sometimes put on a CD of quiet music, made sure she had her binky (yes, we are still dealing with that at 27 months, stay tuned for bloggin woes...) and her snuggly (a birp cloth with a special tag, she has adopted this as her 'lovey'), and said "Good night! Love you!" She would stay in bed and go right to sleep. Then we went to Utah for Christmas. Eight nights of sleeping in the same room as either Mom and Dad or Grandma. We get home and she won't go to sleep in her bed without someone right there. At first I just thought that she needed a couple nights to transition back. That and she was totally sleep deprived. But we are working on almost 2 weeks and she will not stay in bed unless Jay or I are right next to her bed until she falls asleep. This goes for naps too. She was not doing this at naptime either. When will this stop? What am I doing wrong? I don't know what else to do besides stay in there with her because she will not stay in bed. Usually she comes out of her room within the first 5 minutes of getting into bed. One night I stayed right outside the door and when she came to the door and saw me there she just started playing with her toys. She won't get back in bed when I tell her to, just stands there looking at me. I feel like I'm indulging her too much, but how do you make a 2-year-old understand 'Stay in bed'.

Then last night she came into my room at 1:00 a.m. This is not an unusual thing, I just took her back to her room, put her in her bed. However, this routine went on for quite a while. I would stay in her room with her for 20 or 30 minutes, until I was freezing to death and longing for my own bed. Then I would sneak back to bed, only to find that 10 minutes later Gabby was next to my bed trying to get under my covers. By 4:00 I just let her in the bed, figured it was the only way to get her to go back to sleep. Where did we all wake up this morning? Jay on his side of the bed, Gabby on my side, me in Gabby's bed (not a very comfortable twin, mind you). I was so tired when she came in her room at 8 a.m., playing with toys and wide awake, happy as could be. I could barely open my eyes as she attempted to engage me in her play. Unfortunately I had to get up so that we could go to her Tiny Tots play group, so I hurried and showered and we were off. What is going on? Awake for 4 hours in the middle of the night? This is not like my daughter. I hope this doesn't become a life-long pattern (unfortunately it has already become a pattern). Am I missing something? Parenting experts of the world, advise!!

On a side note, Jay went to bed at 7:30 p.m. tonight. 7:30! What's going on?!? I guess all that kicking and poking that Gabby subjected him to last night didn't help him get any rest. (Me either, but at least I can take naps). Anyway, who goes to bed before their 2-year-old? I'm sure I had a look of total disbelief on my face. Even when I'm tired it just doesn't seem right to go to bed before 8:00 p.m. Oh well, when the sheets are calling......