Potty Training in 3 days- The Second Time Around

Or "Living in my PJ's for 4 days."

by, Nahyr Galaz Ruiz

I bet this is what you envisioned, right? Ha. I did too..once.

So,  Monday I began potty training my youngest.  She's been demonstrating signs of readiness for almost two months and I just haven't been ready.  I'm doing the 3 day strategy just as I did with my first.  Since this week is Spring Break, (no school for big sis) and the hubby isn't traveling, it seemed like the perfect week.  In case you aren't familiar with the 3-day method; you have to commit to bunkering down in your house for 3 days.  That's right, you're home-bound with a TODDLER for THREE DAYS.  

Day 1:

We take off the LAST diaper. I put a tee on her and tell her today no more diapers; she tosses it inside the diaper pail.  I explain today we're going "Pee Pee in Potty." G is THRILLED. She's naked and free; why wouldn't she be.  I'M thrilled! "This is going to be great," I think to myself.  I did this with S; started on a Monday and by Sunday we had a FULL day at Disneyland with only one accident late at night.

I sit her on the potty and pump her full of juice.  Not a drop.

10 minutes later....

 Her first accident.  "G, Pee Pee in Potty. Not on the floor," I say as I sit her on the potty and clean it up.  Big Sis S is freaking out.  I explain to her that its OK and part of the process.

I give G more juice.   S tells me, "You shouldn't give her more juice.  She's just gonna pee." She's not wrong.  But that's the idea.

 9:10am G poops in potty!!! I know it's a fluke but I take it; she didn't freak out and that's a WIN!!! G gets TWO M&M's & a fun and silly potty dance!!! 

11:15am-1:15pm All Accidents.

By noon I'm questioning my sanity and asking myself why I'm doing this to myself A SECOND time.  Like labor, I seem to have blocked out the roughest parts and only remember the happy bliss at the end...WHY?!

1:00pm  Nap Time.  THANK GOD.  I slip training underwear on her and put a pee pad down on her crib mattress.  She nestles up to her blanky and Tigger.

1:15pm *Crying* Noooooo....I run to her room to discover she's peed; in three different places.  Miraculously, Tigger and blanky are OK.  I suddenly remember; Nap & Night Training where gradual additions over the course of a couple months the first time.  I slip an easy-up on her.  She naps without interruption.

2:30pm She's awake with a full easy-up.  I remind myself that that's not today's battle and to stay focused.  We visit the potty anyway. After 15 minutes; NADA.  Pitstop in the kitchen to get her a snack.

2:33pm She pees what seems like a GALLON.  I'm not sure I can get through this. The rest of the day is all accidents;  a few times I'm able to get her to finish in the potty.  I feel like this is impossible.

 What feels like several years later it's 8pm.  I slip G into an Easy Up and call it a night.  Should I pour myself a glass of wine? I fall asleep contemplating the answer.

Day 2:

 7:45am G Wakes up, I sit her on the potty. Nothing.  We take the potty to our bunker set up in the TV room.

8:20am  G goes pee in her potty…I think I see the light!

Two accidents.

11:25am Pee in potty! Yay!!!

That’s the last success.  The rest of the day until bedtime is all accidents.  One of them while sitting on my lap.

Day 3:

8:30am Both G and I wake up exhausted.  I feel terrible for S; she’s been neglected, hasn’t gone outside and has been confined to the TV room with us for going on 3 days; on the bright side she’s handling it like a champ.  Might have something to do with the plethora of movies we’ve been renting and the getting to eat in the TV room (I never allow that), or the crafts in their small table in the TV room.

By the end of Day 3, G has had four accidents; one of them on me again.  I feel defeated.

Day 4:

On Day 4 you’re supposed to leave the house for an hour; I decided I was too scared.  After sitting on the potty for almost a half hour in the morning, G pooped in the hallway while I was trying to get her sister to put on socks.  THIS IS  MOTHERHOOD.

The new neighbors invite us out to play in the front yard….I oblige because S is so excited and she’s been so patient and understanding.  During the hour that we’re outside, I take G twice to the potty…nothing. Within 5 minutes of the second time she has an accident.  On the neighbor’s porch.  BUT: it’s 5pm and so far only 2 accidents!!!  Papi gets home and we decide to go as a family to have dinner and run Easter errands.

NO ACCIDENTS THROUGHOUT DINNER! 2 successful potty visits! YAY!!!

(When you become a parent, getting excited about poop and pee becomes perfectly normal.)

7pm After a successful potty run with Papi, G has an accident in the middle of the pet section.  Papi is mortified.  Twenty minutes later, another accident in the electronics section.  It’s time to go home. 

Day 5:

We have planned to see the Easter Bunny at a local train park, but I’m really nervous.  As soon as she wakes, we sit G on the potty.  After 45minutes; NOT A DROP.  I dress her in a tee and undies and take her Easter outfit in the trunk; I’m convinced she’s going to have an accident.  Upon arrival, we immediately set up the portable potty in my trunk and have her sit; after a few minutes, success!  We go into the park.

We arrived at the park at 10:15am and left at 2pm; only one accident.

At home we decorate eggs and make cupcakes, both girls nap, and we do our own hunt and bunny visit.  NO ACCIDENTS the rest of the day!

FINALLY SOME PROGRESS! After a week of intense potty training, G had a long, full day and only ONE accident! Woo Hoo!

Oh god. I hope I didn’t jinx tomorrow....Just in case; Jinx back, double pinkie, round the side, double pinkie, jinx back.

Please share your potty training stories and experiences!

Always Magical Disney Adventures!

New Disney Experiences

by, Nahyr Galaz Ruiz

It's no secret that we are a HUGE Disney family.  If you're one of our out-of-town close friends, you've most likely been repeatedly offered to come stay at our house and come with us to Disneyland and/or Disney California Adventure.  Since we live a short sixteen minute drive away and are AP holders, we frequent Disneyland as often as we can!  We also love going with friends and family, so if you're one of our peeps; we'll most likely keep offering *chuckles*

Even though we are seasoned Disney-goers (we've been going as a family since Sia was 20 months old), almost every time we go we discover something new or do something we've never done before! It's truly magical!   This past Sunday we visited Disneyland and opted to stay in the one park for the day.  Despite how often we usually go, due to work commitments, school, and travel; we hadn't been able to get our Disney fix in a few weeks and we were really excited about finally remembering to participate in Disney's annual Easter Eggstravaganza egg hunt! 

Easter Eggstravaganza

If you've never been at Disneyland for this event, I highly recommend it; particularly if you have children 5 and under (it's not very challenging for older kids but we even saw some adults participating in the fun!).  To participate, you purchase the egg hunt map for $5.99 (plus tax) at a designated kiosk  This year, the small table under a red umbrella was located as soon as you enter the park on the right-hand side just past the Great Moments with Lincoln attraction tucked away in the corner where the characters disappear to for their break.  Be careful! We almost missed it! It's pretty tucked away if you don't know what to look for!  For $5.99 (plus tax)  you get your map and stickers to go hunt for all 12 eggs; once you've found them all, you return to the kiosk to redeem your map for your prize- an exclusive, Disney themed egg! You have until Sunday, April 16th to partake in this fun Disney tradition!!!  There are also different maps at Downtown Disney and DCA respectively; we're going to attempt the other two maps as well!

Our spoils!

Character Breakfast 

After we picked up our maps, we decided we were hungry.  (We had left the house in a whirlwind rush and, while we packed snacks and juice, we didn't actually eat breakfast).  While I snapped some reppin photos of Gavi's dress, the hubby scouted a breakfast place to dine in.  We had never eaten at the Plaza Inn so he wandered on in.  It turns out we lucked out! The Plaza Inn usually requires advanced reservations due to its popularity for its Character Breakfast Buffet!  

We were all very excited to "discover" this experience; we had done the Character Breakfast at DisneyWorld but thought it was only available at the Disney hotel here in Cali- goes to show you that we don't know EVERYTHING.  The girls had an absolute blast and the food was delish (I even broke my diet a little bit to sneak in some mickey mouse waffles...shhhh).  What's neat is one of Disney's photographers is stationed near the entrance to snap some cute photos of you and your littles.  They'll come to your table and show you your printed photos for purchase.  Your also of course free to take as many photos as you'd like with your own cameras and devices and the characters come around and stop at each table.

Gavi was a little apprehensive about seeing her beloved characters up close, but Sia LOVED talking to each character and giving them a BIG HUG.

Finally 40 inches tall!

The egg hunt and character breakfast weren't our only new Disney experiences, though.  Turns out our oldest, Sia, is finally 40 inches and could ride on a few big kid rides! This means she can now go on Star Tours, HyperSpace Mountain, Splash Mountain, and Big Thunder Mountain!  

As we don't normally do the big kid rides (because until now she wasn't tall enough!), we didn't arrive early enough to get a fast pass for HyperSpace Mountain, but that's now high on our priority list for our next visit!

She did however, go on Star Tours, Big Thunder Mountain, and Splash Mountain.  My daredevil child loved these rides and can't wait to go on them again! This time around her daddy took her on them.  We did use the Child Switch pass for Star Tours but as I had a sore throat/cold, I refrained from riding anything that makes you scream! 

If you have littles, I highly recommend the Child Switch pass (most theme parks have them!), the adult who stands in line (whether FastPass or StandBy doesn't matter) with the child tells the attendant that they will need a Child Switch Pass (note the other adult and young child need to be visible to the attendant so don't run off just yet!).  The attendant hands you the pass and when your spouse or other adult exits the ride with your child,  you then get to use the pass and your child gets to ride twice! The second time you just walk right through with your pass; no waiting!  It's a really great option for families with both young and older kiddos!

Sia totally ready for a second go at Star Tours, Mommy used the Child Switch Pass!

 

When you exit Star Tours, I highly recommend a stop in the Star Tours shop to build your own lightsaber and join the Rebel Alliance! May the Force be with you!

My little daredevil completely unfazed by the drop!

While Big Sis and Daddy rode Splash Mountain, Gavi and I went on the Winnie Pooh ride, met Tigger and Winnie Pooh (again) at the 100 acre wood meet and greet and shopped for Gavi's first Disney stuffed animal.  (She has others she's been given, but this would be the first time I take her to pick one for herself like I did her big sis!).  When we first entered the shop, Gavi made a dash for the Minnies and I was sure she'd pick one of them. Except she didn't want one Minnie. 

She wanted ALL OF THE MINNIES.

(Blurry shots happen when mom tries to take photos while simultaneously making sure the toddler doesn't run out of the store with 20 Minnies in tow)

Things changed as soon as she spotted Tigger on shelf nearby.  She immediately dropped all of the Minnies (Sorry, Minnie!), and ran over on her tiptoes squealing and gesturing for me to pull one down for her.  She's found her Disney bestie.  Fitting since Tigger is as playful, bouncy, and smiley as Gavi and Pooh Bear is Sia's bestie!

Her new Disney bestie!

From Character Dining, to a an egg hunt through the park, to new rides; our Disney visits never cease to be MAGICAL.

Kids repeat EVERYTHING...

 

Kids repeat EVERYTHING.  Before I go into details, I want to preface this post with explaining to those of you that don’t know, that we’re a bilingual family raising our children bilingual (post on that to follow).

That said, sometimes on occasion either my husband or I will think of something in Spanish that doesn’t quite translate to English properly.  That’s the best case scenario.  Once in a while it’ll happen that it does translate but the translation is inappropriate.  #bilingualspeakerproblems

A couple days ago, my husband, girls and I met up for dinner with my good friend, T.   It was the first time that the girls had finally had the opportunity to meet T, so my eldest was understandably excited.  I had also just bought her a unicorn plush toy with a matching backpack and a little plush dog that she was eager to share with T.  She showed T her unicorn and he asked her, “What’s your unicorn’s name?” 

“I don’t know,” she replied distractedly playing.  “Your unicorn doesn’t have a name?!” T exclaimed bewildered.  “You gotta give her a name,” he continued, “How about Sparkle?”

“No,” she replied.  “Star?” he suggested.  “Mmm No,” she said.  Then my husband, thinking of the fact that the unicorn had a horn and translating in his head from Spanish “Cuernito” (little horn), he chimed in, “What about Horny?”

As soon as the word left his mouth, we both reacted (which in retrospect, we shouldn’t have; rookie mistake!).  “Alex!” I gasped as he dug his face in his hands and said “I know, as soon as I said it I heard it.”

Meanwhile, T is laughing his royal-tushy off.  Remember my first sentence? Kids repeat EVERYTHING.  So, what did my daughter name her unicorn? Horny.

Welcome to Parenthood.

Three days later I was able to convince her after suggesting several names, to rename her unicorn Princess like the unicorn toy that T told her he rescued from the garbage on one of his travels.  Judge all you want; I didn’t want to have to explain the original name to her preschool teacher or the other parents.

Have you ever accidentally said anything inappropriate in front of your kids that they then repeated? By all means, share in the comments!