Potty Training 101

I think that Ellie and I could both use a potty training class. We need a lesson on sticking with it. A couple of months ago I started working with her on it, but then the stuttering started. We were advised to back off until the stutter stabilized. Well, that has happened so I "officially" started potty training her yesterday (and it went well), but today both of us are feeling a bit yucky from colds and neither of us was in the mood to tackle it.

I had planned on continuing today despite my illness (isn't that what being a mom is all about??), but when she started feeling yucky and began crying and asking me to, "Just put on a diaper. No panties. No Pull-Up" I relented and switched back to diapers. She has not wanted to sit on the potty at all today. If we were both feeling well I wouldn't have let her have such a backslide, but I guess we'll try again in a few days.

Yesterday she always used the potty when I asked her to and even came to me once and said she needed to go. She was in panties for the evening (her idea, after spending the afternoon with Jamie who is also potty training right now) and stayed completely dry.

So far I can say that potty training a two year old is similar to potty training a puppy: take them to the potty (or yard) every 30 minutes and lavish praise when they go. Don't make a big deal out of accidents and watch for signs of needing to use the bathroom more closely next time. How is it different? Sebastian never yelled, "NO NO NO" at me when I told him we were going to go potty, never threw himself on the ground crying and kicking, and never wanted a sticker when he was done :) I will also say that Sebastian was house-broken in less than a week, and he was only 9 weeks old at the time, so I think it is safe to say that the puppy was easier!

Cute Pictures, Courtesy of Steve

Our neighbor, Steve (Daddy of Ellie's best buddy, Jamison) has an awesome new digital SLR camera and he snapped these pictures of Ellie a couple of days ago. Thanks, Steve! They turned out awesome!

Easter Weekend

Here are some pictures of the Easter egg hunt that we took Ellie to, as well as a couple of pictures from Easter morning.

Ellie really enjoyed the egg hunt, once she figured out what it was all about. Here are pictures, in reverse order:

No more candy to find - sad girl.

Waiting in the cold for the hunt to start.

Easter morning, after she found the basket the Easter Bunny left for her. She was a very excited girl and kept saying, "The Easter Bunny left presents just for me!"

Easter dress. She had to wear a turtle neck and long pants under it because of the very cold weather.

Look at the treats the Easter Bunny left me!

Coloring Eggs

Last weekend Tim, Ellie, and I colored eggs. We didn't color eggs last year, so this was Ellie's first experience with egg coloring. She had a blast and really enjoyed watching the transformation. She was also really interested in the egg boiling process. I think Ellie's hands are finally dye-free as of a couple of days ago; they were fairly red, purple, blue, orange, and yellow for awhile!

Tomorrow we are hoping to go to a local Easter egg hunt. We tried to go last weekend, but it was either canceled because of the snow or I read the date wrong. Ellie was pretty disappointed that she didn't get to see the Easter bunny and "hold him in my's arms and pat him." She may be still disappointed tomorrow when she does actually see him - and he is just some random guy dressed up in a suit and not a real rabbit!

I have given up trying to figure out the order in which Blogger decides to insert my pictures, so these are ridiculously out of order, but you get the idea.