Potty Training, Mach 2

So - i have decided that toilet training is going to the next level here at our house. I started out after Flynns 2nd birthday with a prett casual approach, thinking that because he is such a great communicator that he would be relatively quick and painless to train. Um.... wrong! He may well be a very good communicator for his age, but after 2 months of trying the casual approach, methinks my son may just have a tad of the lazy about him too. He's quite happy to tell me he needs his bottom changed when he's wearing a nappy, but when he's in undies he'll just run up to me, or right next to his potty, and wee on the floor. Its like yanking down his undies and sitting is too much hassle for him, you know?

Dont get me wrong - i'm not blaming him. In fact i will quite happily and honestly throw my hand up and say that we havent been super consistent. With me working part-time, and the days that i do have off we tend to have very busy mornings ( at the very least ) the whole " lets put undies on/ lets sit on the potty every half hr " thing hasnt exactly been a strictly regular occurence. It has to be confusing for him, Mama being all gung-ho with the potty time one day, and chucking him a nappy and running out the door the day after. Unfortunately though there isnt much i can do about that - i have to work, at least for the next 5ish months before i go on maternity leave.

However, i'm ready and willing to change tack. Of course i've done a bit of reading up on all the toilet training tips and tricks, and after observing how my son is very fast growing up, i think the old sticker chart might be worth a shot.

My Flynn seems to be growing into the typical older child in that he's quite eager to please and he likes having rewards for his efforts that he can show others. ( I remember being in primary school, wanting to do the best i can to please my parents and teachers, but i had a merit award to show for my work well... so much the better ). So last night at bedtime Flynn and i had a little chat about how we're going to buy some special stickers, and when he does a wee or a poo Mummy will put them on a chart with his name. " I show Poppy and Grandma my stickers? " he asked.

Of course you can Pickles - and in that little sentence alone i think this plan may just prove more fruitful than the softly-softly method. If he can get something shiny and cool that he can show his grandparents, and they'll go on about how proud they are, which will in turn make him feel proud well then... so much the better.

Putting The " Pee " In " Potty "

It seems that every " Mummy " blogger worth her salt has done a post about toilet training in the past few weeks - and, as late to the party as i may be, i'm jumping on that bandwagon too. Or the Toilet Train, if you want to go that way.

Flynn turned 2 last month and Mick and I had already decided that particular milestone would signal the start of offical potty training. I know your supposed to wait for all the "signals " but if your child is showing some, but not others well... whats a Mama to do? We'd bought a potty back at 18 mths old at the advice of our child health nurse, just to get him used to the idea of what it was and what it was for. It sat next to our toilet, and Flynn would sit on it of a morning ( fully clothed ) to brush his teeth. Occasionally i'd ask him if he'd like to try sitting on it, maybe try doing a wee when Mummy was going to the toilet, but the answer was pretty much always a polite, but firm, " No Mum ".

But turning 2 was Flynns D-Day. I started sitting him on the potty once before lunch, once after his nap and then right before his bath for a few days to get him used to both the concept and how sitting on the potty actually felt. We had a poo on the potty on the 2nd day, and the one after that ( my son has an admittedly very regular schedule for those, so i think we fluked it ) and i thought " Oh man, this going to be a cinch! " And then... nothing. He didnt want to sit down when i asked him, and he'd just wait til his nappy was back on and then he'd go.

So i asked my parents advice - Mum said put him in undies. Tell him they're for big boys and it might have two effects: 1) he'll feel proud wearing them like a big kid and 2) when he does wet them he'll soon figure out it doesnt feel too good and want to go on the potty. So we've been trying it - on the days i dont work Flynn goes into undies as soon as we get up, and only wears a nappy for sleeps and when we go out. It had been two weeks of wet undies, one pair of soiled jocks ( strangely, he still managed to hold in those #2's until a nappy was on ) and lots of begging and pleading on both our behalfs. That is.... until yesterday.

Monday we had a successful poo in the potty. I clapped and i cheered and i told him how proud i was. We flushed it down the loo and waved goodbye to it. I told him that if he could do a big wee in the potty that there would be a pay off - a " special present " for learning how to be a big boy. I worked Tuesday so he was in nappies most of the day. But Wednesday afternoon, after an hr and half in undies without an accident before his nap, and a dry nappy when he woke up, i knew the time was right. We sat down together, me on the floor and him on the potty. We read " Olivia " twice. He begged to put a nappy on but i told him no, a wee was going to come, and he could do it in the potty. And then, just like that, we had action! I was so happy i almost cried. Ok, maybe i did a bit. But we had success, and then after a trip to Big W to buy the "special present " ( he chose a new truck... ) we had two more successful potty attempts that afternoon, and one this morning.

I know this isnt all over - its gonna be a while yet before i can say Flynn is day trained, and even longer before we have nights covered, but i'm just happy that after almost a month of frusturation for everybody that we've had that maiden success. I'd love to have him out of nappies during the day by winter and thankfully i have both his daycare " Mum " and my parents on board, so he can be nappy free most places he is during the day. I'd love any suggestions, tips or tricks you fellow mamas might have on how to help him along aswell. So - how did your kids go? Any potty training secrets you should be letting me in on?

A Working Mother's Value

Image from here

Does being a working mother make me a less valeable employee? I know it doesnt make me a worse mother because as far as thats concerned i think i'm doing a pretty excellent job thus far ( despite occasional bouts of mother guilt ). I also know, in my heart of hearts, that i'm good at what i do and valued by my workmates - so why then do i feel like the old brown dog that people only keep around because they cant be bothered taking it out bush to put it out of its misery?


Forgive me for that admittedly harsh analogy, but in the last week i've been made to feel quite worthless in my job. Not by the people i work WITH - the small team i work with in our local branch are like a second family to me and though, like all families, we have our disagreements or niggling annoying habits, we support each other in our work and the roles we play within the team. No, its the people i work FOR who are doing my head in, the upper echelon management who for some reason have decided that running a great company into the ground by getting all their staff offside is the best way to go forward. Without going into too much detail, my hours and days of work have been changed, without any consulation with me personally or with anyone in my branch - its been a " this is happening, and you WILL do it " kind of attitude. To be quite frank, i havent appreciated it. Its made me feel like they only keep me around because they legally cant get rid of me; that they really would prefer it if they didnt have to put up with a young mother who's toddler has been sick a bit lately, or who's availability of daycare is a priority when trying to organise anything work-related. Like i was more valuable, and thus better appreciated, by them when i was a full-time working DINK, even though the only thing that has changed is my working hours, not the quality of the work i do.

Quite frankly i want to tell them to take their job and shove it as far up their arses as they can wedge it, but i dont.... my family needs the money, and in any case i'm hoping to fall pregnant at the end of this year and could really use the paid maternity leave they'll have to give me when i have another baby. I also dont want to burden my team-mates with anymore work than they already have on their already over-flowing plates ( management are also really lax at keeping a full rotation of staff, because people keep leaving the company, fed up with their shoddy treatment ... ).

So, until the next baby dream becomes a reality i'll just have to keep my head down, bum up and try not to run my mouth too much at our upcoming conference when management asks my opinion on branch morale.....

Give Me A Break!

Seriously, it seems like Mick and I can not win a bloody trick. Its no secret that we are trying to save for our wedding ( even though my mum and dad are paying for quite a bit ) but just in the last month or so its seems like every second day i'm opening another bill and we just aren't making any ground on anything.

Last week i paid the car insurance ( after driving around for a month uninsured because we couldnt afford it ) and over the next two weeks we have to pay the quarterly installment of our rates. We're also expecting this quarters electricity bill this week and today i come home to find I owe the Goverment $560 in overpayment of Family Tax Benefit. And those are on top of two mortgages ( Mick bought a property in a small country town before we met and we are trying to sell it ), the groceries and childcare each week. I dont mean to whinge, because i know there are people out there who are far worse off than us, but its just so frusturating.
I opened that bill today and just wanted to burst into tears - over $2000 ( roughly ) of bills due within a four week period on top of regular expenses. I already try to buy the cheapest groceries possible, and have stopped buying my lunch once a week in an effort to save money. I dont go to beauty salons, i only have my hair cut 4 times a year, and havent bought new clothes with my own money for 6 months or more. All this, and i'm still having to dip into meagre savings to pay bills on time. For God's sake - when are we ever going to catch a break and get ahead!?!?

Ok. Sorry. Just needed to get that out. Rant over.