Potty Trained At Last!

Potty Trained in 3... 14 Days!

When I first introduced the potty to Bean, she was about 20 months old. For those of you who don't want to do the math, she was just over 1 1/2 years old.  I had no intention of pushing the potty in her face, so to speak, but I wanted her to be familiar with it! Especially, Bean. She's weary of anything new. It's always "Scary." I thought maybe if I introduced it to her early, it would just be the normal. That part of potty training went extremely well! I always brought her in with me and had an "open door" policy when we didn't have visitors so she could watch me use the restroom. I let her look, flush, the whole shabang! 

A few months past and she was showing signs ( or I thought she was showing signs) of wanting to actually use the potty. So, we purchased her some Gerber Training Undies. Their basically underwear with a little extra padding. We had previously got a princess toilet seat that sat on the "Big girl potty". I really didn't want to go through teaching her to use a plastic toddler toilet only to have to teach her to use the real toilet eventually. 

Now Bean's always been a "dry sleeper". By which I mean she doesn't pee at night. Well not always, she stopped going at night after we stopped nursing around 16 months old. When I got her training undies, I naturally assumed once she peed once in them, she'd be grossed out and want to go use the toilet. 

It didn't work out that way. 

She actually peed every 20 minutes and went through all her undies in only an hour. 

I was sad ( didn't let her know it, of course!) but knew it was a sign of her not being ready. 

I've read a lot on potty training and I was so worried I had introduced it to early, and blah blah blah. 

Finally, a few weeks ago, she came up to me ( now that she's a big 2 year old) and told me she would like to use the potty. I thought " Hey, I'll give it another shot." I had read on this 3 day rule that you let your child run around bare bottom for 3 days straight and by the 4th day they'll be using the potty like a champ! 

So that's what we did. 

I cannot tell you how many times I stepped in human pee those 3 days. 

At one point she had even left an awesome poop skid mark on the carpet. 

BUT, on just the 2nd day, her Auntie Jo got her to pee on the potty. 

FINALLY. 

She hated peeing on herself. She'd pee and freak out and scream " MOOOOOM. POTTY POTTY TOILET!" Only for it to be to late. I admit by the 4th day she was using the potty but was still having accidents. I don't think she had the concept of holding it. 

At 14 days of NO diapers, she finally had a whole day of ZERO accidents ( this is including at night time) and telling me she had to go; and the rest is history! She's only had 2 accidents and both of them have been my fault really. 

I'm so happy to not be changing diapers anymore but honestly a bit sad. 

Bean's in big girl undies now, in a big girl bed, sleeps on her own like a big girl. 

She's a big girl now!  

Where has my baby gone?

2/23/2014

Hey friends,

I realize it's been some time since I've written a blog updating Elizabeth and myself.
I'm not entirely sure why I haven't been blogging much. I suppose I feel like they're better things to do with my time; but honestly I've just ended up sitting in front of the tube watching Bubble Guppies with the Bean.

SO. Instead of watching the television, I'm blogging now. :) Elizabeth is also taking her afternoon nap -- a great time to get my thoughts out to you folks.

ELIZABETH UPDATE:
Bean's now 2. If you want to really get technical, she's 26 month's old and will be 27 months on the 1st!

She is also 25 pounds of terrible, terrible 2's.

I should of been expecting it, right? Every parent says " Oh, just you wait till their 2!" I really thought she had started getting SO sassy at 1 1/2. I think I even blogged about it.
Her sass is nothing compared to the attitude she has now. I sometimes wonder if someone switched children with me when I wasn't looking.
I absolutely love her to death, don't get me wrong...I just don't like this new found sense of "everything is MINE!" attitude.

For example:
I'm not sure if you guys know this, but she was a HUGE milk fan. I called her a "milkoholic" for months! Now all she is insisting on drinking is "MY APPLE JUICE!" and " MY ICE WATER! MY ICE WATER!"
Most every sentence that comes out of her mouth begins with " My" and she also repeats herself at least twice.

"My apple juice! MY APPLE JUICE!"

Such a goof! 

I'm not really sure how to even go about all of this. It seems like it hit me in the face. I was really not expecting any of this from my sweet baby!

Of course, I've done some reading on it and it's completely normal. Nothing to be worried about. With her anyways.

I'm a different story.
I feel like my patience is wearing thin; and it was pretty non-existent to begin with!
I have to keep repeating to myself to take a few breaths and realize she's 2.

So.Hard.

Other than the fact she's turned into an actual 2 year old; she still has her adorable sweet side. She insists on giving kisses if she thinks or has made you upset in anyway. She gives loves/hugs to most anyone she is comfortable with, just because!

She can currently count to 13. Says her "pleases" and "thank-you's" with out me having to tell her. ( Most of the time!)

She is going to bed at her regular time ( 7:30PM) although we still have to be in the room with her until she falls asleep. We had a minor set back for a good month when Frank decided to try and "ferber" her again. I insisted it wouldn't work but ended up trying anyways. It was a disaster.

That's about it here in the Steele household. For now.

New Camera -- No, I'm not a professional.

Hey guys,

You may of noticed, I got a fancy new camera for Christmas!

I was super excited since I thought I wasn't going to be able to purchase one till tax return season.

It's a Canon Rebel T3i.

The one I wanted! 

So, Ive never took any kind of photography class in my life. I may in the future but for now I'm self-teaching. 

I wanted the camera for purely taking photos of my Elizabeth, cats and day to day life. 

It grinds my gears, so, so much when people call themselves photographers and actually charge people money for the pieces of crap they're taking; all because they have a fancy camera. 

Having an expensive camera does NOT make you a good photographer. 

I have a few friends who I can say are great at taking photos. They all have YEARS of experience and are great artists. I respect their work so much; and actually even the photos they take with their phones are amazing. 

It's so irritating to see someone buy a camera, take an emotionless photo, slap a "name" on it and try to sell it. You need to have a "special" eye. T.A.L.E.N.T.

That being said, I do admit having a nice camera does help in certain ways.

I'm a long ways away from being good at taking photos but I'm getting there and it's really fun! I love taking photos of my baby girl, her friends, the furry kids, my home (cause it's freaking beautiful here on Camano!) and my family. 

Here are some photos I've taken since I got it! :) Any tips are greatly appreciated!
Feel free to laugh at them, love, hate them, but please, don't steal them. Thanks. :)