Spring Training

Ok, it is not exactly Spring yet - but we are less than 20 days away and there is a lot of training going on in the Stillwell house! Noah is still potty training and Ryan is sleep training and trying to roll over.

Mr. Crying & Ms. Serious

Noah's potty training has been going a lot better than Pee Fest 2013 that I blogged about before! He has been having no accidents at daycare or for me once we get home for awhile now. The only thing is he doesn't tell me when he needs to go - I just take him every 20-30 minutes and he goes. So, I am still waiting for that click to happen where he starts telling me what is going on . We are doing real underwear on the weekends to save diapers and to get him used to it and he doesn't seem to care either way. Daddy got to get in on the potty training a little more last weekend (since he has been working a lot while I was training before). I went out to eat with my friend Cortney (shout out to Cortney!) and as I was leaving Nathan was fixing Noah a sippy cup. I told him not to give him apple juice while he is potty training, it makes him have to pee every 10 minutes or less - it goes straight through him! Nathan said he is on Daddy's watch and he will be fine. So, as I am eating Nathan sent me the following texts:

"Pooped his pants first, changed that, pissed all over the living room next and now he is in time out"

"Pissed in the floor again, he is in a diaper now"

"Now he fell and hit his head. FML"

Keep in mind, I was only gone a little over an hour. I tried to warn him, but he wouldn't listen. Poor Daddy and Noah - I leave and all hell broke loose! :) But, I do think we are getting somewhere!

Noah picking a toy out for going "poo-poo" in the potty :)

Ryan started the lovely habit of fighting her sleep and then once I would get her to sleep deciding she wasn't going to stay asleep unless Momma held her until 1:30 a.m. That is when I knew it was time to start her sleep training! My sleep training consists of laying her down awake and letting her put herself to sleep. I wait until close to 10:00 because I know that is when she is naturally getting sleepy. She immediately starts crying but I don't go in and check on her for 15 minutes. Then I go in and just rub her belly/head and calm her down but I don't pick her up. I then leave and don't go back in for 20 minutes if she isn't already asleep. I keep adding 5 minutes between when I check on her until she goes to sleep. So far she fought it 40 minutes the first night, an hour night two, 30 minutes night three, 7 minutes on night four, and 10 minutes last night! Noah only took 2 days and he was putting himself to sleep no problem! Noah was not liking Baby Ryan crying - he was singing to her through the wall (he always sings to her when she cries) - it was so sweet!

Now, I just need to work with her on tummy time and rolling over! She still will not roll over and hates being on her belly. I got Noah's baby book out and he was rolling over at 3 months! But, he was a lot bigger baby and I don't think she is strong enough yet. I was worried I was not giving her enough attention when I saw that, but then I had to remind myself not to compare - they are each their own kid! She will roll when she is ready and I will wish she would stop rolling everywhere :)

She can get this far, and then she is stuck (from back to belly)

She does seem to like using Noah's old surfboard tummy toy

It is like a baby lazy susan - she can spin around and play :)

I am a firm believer in teaching kids to self-soothe and it is not up for debate - as most of my beliefs are not :) My cousin has had three kids all successfully sleep trained and several of my friends were able to do it too.  No mom loves to hear their child cry and it is not easy, but having a child that is able to put him/herself to sleep for the rest of their lives is important. To each their own! :)

Have a good weekend - I will be spending mine with these two :)