Potty training relapse

For a few weeks now, we've boasted that Aislin is completely potty trained.  Well.  She showed us what she thought about that by completely forgetting everything we'd taught her.  We're not exactly at square one, but to say we're one square away from square one probably isn't an exaggeration.  We've resorted to having her in pull-ups as sort of a compromise, but it's disheartening.  We'd rather have her in big-girl panties, but she has accidents all day long and exhausts our supply.  Thank God for our washer and dryer.  At least her Number Twos make it to the potty with reliability.

We've been trying to ween her, too.  At night, Aislin would ideally like to nurse until daybreak.  Well.  You can imagine how Kate feels about that.  Not supportive.  So instead of Kate sleeping with her, I sleep with her now.  When Aislin wakes up wanting "milkie" I take her to the living room and give her a bottle in the rocking chair.  For the past few nights, all I've had to do was get up and put her on my shoulder and she's asleep again.  "In full conk" as dad would say.  Kate gets more sleep that way, and I feel like I contribute more.  It's been working out pretty well. 

Here's a picture of Aislin in an outfit she got for her birthday.

She has a ton of energy, a lot of spunk, is capable of amazing amounts of destruction, and laughs all the time.  Bless her.

Potty training at the DMV

We're still potty training in the McClain house of pain, but it's going much better lately. Yesterday, Aislin walked herself into the bathroom, pulled down her pants, and sat on the potty all by herself. This was a momentous step. She's been leading up to this for a little while now, and to see it come to pass makes me swell with pride. I would swell even more if I weren't still a little bitter about a recent fiasco at the DMV.

Going to the DMV is hard enough already. You don't need a baby pooping through three layers of clothes to make it worse. The full story goes like this. Around 11:00, we left for Lebanon to have lunch with my grandmother, dad, and brother. I had the travel bag, her travel potty, gallon bags for the travel potty, and library books to return. We had showered and brushed our teeth ... eh, you don't need all the details. Suffice to say, I was loaded down but feeling confident. Once we got out of Philomath, I realized I didn't have a bottle for her or fresh panties. If she had an accident, it was game over. I figured worst case scenario, I'd have to pick up new panties at Walmart. We got to Lebanon accident free. After lunch, still no accident. Made it back to Corvallis to the DMV to get new tags on the car, no accident. I left the baby bag in the car (first mistake) and went inside. I got number 45, and they were on 42. There was a sign that said they only accept cash or checks, which I thought was strange, but there you are. I went to the ATM and withdrew enough money to cover it. Again, this is probably more than you are interested in, but the point is I was overloaded but confident. I felt on top of it. I was doing totally well, and the baby was proving herself to be very potty trained. After filling out the form, I pick up the baby and she's wet. I take her into the men's room to go potty, and that's where I discover she's more than wet. The baby bag's in the car. There's baby poop down to her knees, soaked through her clothes, and spreading all over the bathroom floor. The only thing I have to clean it up is DMV toilet paper. It was a hard time. I wrapped her dirty clothes in paper towels, and put her skirt back on; I didn't have anything else. I did my best, and then informed them there was a mess in the men's room. After getting the new tags, I rushed out to the car and changed her clothes and cleaned her up. Then I went to K-Mart and got new panties. Now, there's a package of panties that is just for the travel bag. Kate informed me later that there were pull-ups in the bag. So, potty training isn't without incidents now and then.

Aislin's been watching my old ninja turtle tapes, and I don't know how my parents put up with it. I think I do understand why they took the opportunity to buy new ones as soon as they could. When you get used to full seasons of shows on DVD, it's tough to go back to two episodes per video, and there are only five videos. We had to order season 2 on DVD. I'm eagerly anticipating its arrival.

I think that's all for now. Here's a video of Aislin doing a somersault.

Here's to another go

My friend Alicia said she missed my posts, so I'll try to re-commit to this blog. No promises. It's really turned out to be a fool's errand to keep up a blog, or three, while being a stay at home dad. That's been a big "well, duh" moment for me.

A lot has happened since April. In November, we were pleasantly surprised with an eviction notice. We had a handful of weeks to find a new place to live before they tore our apartment complex down. It added a little stress to our holiday season, it's safe to say. We found a place in Philomath, and we're much happier here. The kitchen is huge. It goes on for days. It's quite wonderful.

More recently, we went to Bandon to visit the West Coast Game Park Safari. They had baby lions and black leopards for visitors to pet. I played with a baby lion. They had lions, tigers, bears (oh my), leopards, monkeys ... it was a wild animal extravaganza. Aislin had a blast. On top of all the animals in the cages, there were deer, goats, llamas, and pheasants roaming around free. It was a really great time. We all smelled like a barn afterwards, but it was worth it. Here's a video of Aislin looking at the bears.




As you can see, she is walking and talking quite well. We went with Kate's parents, and a fun time was had by all.

Even more recently, we've begun the arduous task of potty training. It started out quite well. Aislin really took to the concept of "big girl panties" and "pee pee in the potty," but lately she's been regressing. Yesterday she had quite a few accidents. It has really tried our patience. One of the books we got said that the most child abuse begins when a child has an accident while potty training. It's a sad and horrible thing to think of. The child really only has a rudimentary concept of what's going on in her body. She can't be held totally responsible or be expected to pick up on it right away.

We've done potty training at the expense of weening. We thought that would be too much change at once. Aislin must be under a great deal of stress because she has been nursing like crazy during the night, making Kate's sleep nearly non-existent.

So, hard times in the McClain house of pain, but tempered with pride and fun. C'est la vie, I suppose.