Grandpa Ate All The Candy!

First things first. Go over to my Mom's blog and read the really cool post she just made. Well, I think it's cool anyway.

We have a candy dish on the table between the front hall and the living room at the base of the stairs. Last weekend Sydney noticed that the candy dish was empty.

"Oh, no!"

"What's wrong, Sydney?"

"The candy dish. Grandpa ate all the candy!"

"Uh, yeah. Right," I answered. "Grandpa ate all the candy." (Grandpa does eat it. But so do I and everyone else. I just happened to be the one who ate the last few pieces this time. Grandpa just happens to be the one Sydney sees eat most of it.)

"We have to get more, Daddy."

"Okay. We'll get more next time we go to the store."

"Okay. And then we'll hide it from Grandpa so he can't eat it all. And we'll tell him he can't have it."

True story. Or at least close enough since I'm sure the conversation isn't quoted exactly.

So last entry I promised an update on potty training. Those of you not interested in potty training can skip it. You won't hurt my feelings. If you're interested in seeing pictures you can scroll down to the end of this post for a few new ones.

Sydney has not been interested in potty training. She would pee on the toilet after her bath. We could sometimes get her to pee on the toilet if we happened to catch her right at the right time and get her there. Otherwise she didn't seem to care about learning. She's happy in a diaper (or pull up diaper) and doesn't care how full, wet or poopy it is.

Now Anne and I haven't exactly been pressing the issue, either. We were slacking and not trying as hard as we should have been. So we decided it was time, even if Sydney wasn't showing much interest, and took her to the store to get what we needed.

She already had a couple step-stools spread around to help her reach the sinks. She also had a padded toilet seat that she used when going so she could sit on the toilet without falling in. But we took her to the store and she got to pick out her own, new seat and a step-stool to go with it. (The first one was given to us by Mark and Jackie.) Her other one we moved downstairs and the new one went in her bathroom.

We also debated how we wanted to handle the potty training. A lot of parents will do a reward of some kind every time the child goes to the bathroom on the potty. We know several parents who did this with some kind of candy or snack. We really didn't want to do that since Sydney rarely eats candy. (No, she doesn't eat the candy in the candy dish.)

Since Sydney likes stickers we decided to make her a sticker board. We bought some construction paper and taped four pieces together. We taped it on her bedroom wall. She got to pick out her own stickers. Whenever she pees on the toilet she gets to put one sticker on her board. Whenever she poops on the toilet she gets to put two stickers on the board.

So far she's been putting single stickers up. I think she's only pooped on the toilet one time. She's tried and she's told us she needs to poop, but when it comes to doing the deed she can't do it.

We decided that stickers would be easier to stop than a snack. When she's "officially" potty trained we can explain to her that she has learned it and doesn't need the stickers as a reward anymore. She can finish up putting the stickers she has left on her board and then she'll be done. They will be "all gone".

I don't think this will be a problem for Sydney for several reason. First, she has other, non-potty stickers she plays with at times. Second, she usually understands these types of things when we explain them to her. And third, when she pees downstairs she frequently forgets completely about putting a sticker up and won't unless we remind her.

The potty training is going okay so far. Sydney still doesn't have much care for it. She doesn't bother to tell us when she needs to go. She just pees in her pull up. So we started putting her in her underwear (she also got to pick it out at the store) and if she pees she gets wet.

She's gotten better when she knows she has underwear on at not peeing her pants, but she still has issues with telling us (and still pees her pants sometimes). We almost constantly have to ask her if she has to go. She usually doesn't tell us if she has to go, though she is pretty good at holding it. The other day Anne didn't realize I had her in underwear. Sydney had her nap and then went outside and helped Anne in the garden and played. Several hours after she had last gone Anne realized it (Sydney never said anything) and got her to the toilet to go.

And we still put pull ups on her when we're going out because we don't want to worry about an accident while we're out and about. But, again, Sydney doesn't tell us if she has to go. If she has a pull up on she just goes in that.

There has been progress since we started, but it's going slow. I'm hoping, like many other things Sydney has done, she will just a flip a switch one of these days. She'll just suddenly understand and listen to what we're telling her and realize how/when/why she has to know when she has to go and ask us to get her to a toilet. I'm hoping. Until then we'll continue to plod along this road.

And now for the promised pictures.

Sydney and Mommy baking.



Sydney snuggled up and reading.



And Sydney posing up against the tree because Mommy wanted a new picture she could print out and take to work.