Potty Frustration

Thanks to Sierra's one success at Jasea's Princess Potty Party yesterday (check out Chelsea's blog!), Sierra woke up this morning and wanted to wear panties. I thought, okay, we'll give this a go. It will probably work because there couldn't really be a more inconvenient time for me. Isn't that how it always works? So I told her she had to go potty and she ran into the bathroom and climbed on the toilet. Way to go, Sierra! This might be the day. She didn't "go" but I had to take Mackenzie to school and had to put her in the car anyway. Of course, I was worried she would pee all over her seat and was thrilled when we returned home and she still had dry panties. Woo hoo--it's going great! "We" sat on the potty again and still nothing. But I wasn't discouraged. She was dry for a good hour before she had an accident, which she was not happy about. I considered her concern to be progress and armed with salty snacks, juice, chocolate, books, and a potty movie we kept at it. Every few minutes I put her on the potty and sat with her looking at books, singing songs, watching a movie, etc., until 4 hours later she had had 6 accidents, not one success, and didn't seem to notice the pee running down her leg anymore. So, here is my problem. She will start to "go" and stop herself. I will run her to the potty and she will sit for a good long time, but won't finish. She'll get up and several minutes later have another "accident". How do I communicate the idea of going in the potty to her? She seems to know what to do and how to do it. She doesn't have any problem sitting on the potty or getting clothes off, etc. . I think her problem is that she doesn't want to "go" in the potty. Needless to say, she is in a pull up and we will approach this again in a couple of days when I have a few days with nowhere to go. I do think that for me, potty training is the worst part of motherhood and I have dreaded it since the day she was born. Aunt Mary, HELP ME!!!
On the brighter side, I did get a cute picture of a 3-year-old wedgie!! Is there anything cuter than a little half-tooshie hanging out of dry Mickey Mouse panties? And yes, she is standing on my new coffee table! One problem at a time, please! She wasn't peeing on it!

Happy Birthday, Baby Girl!

Sierra Riley Robertson
March 20, 2005

I can't believe it's been 3 years since this sweet, little baby joined our family! And yet when I look at her baby pictures I hardly remember her being so tiny. They just don't stay little nearly long enough! The older girls used to love to just sit and hold her and try to get her to smile. Now she just tags along with them and wants to do everything that they do. I guess the younger ones really do grow up faster, or maybe it's just that life is so busy with 4 that you don't have time to enjoy what little time you have to just sit and hold them!

Sierra was in such a hurry to come into this world and hasn't slowed down a bit! I had been in the hospital a couple of times with pre-term labor before she was born and had tried to convince my doctor that I wouldn't make it to the hospital if my water broke at home. There were still 3 weeks to my due date and nothing that she could do. Sure enough, my water broke at home during a visit from our "older" Home Teachers. Knowing that I probably only had about a half hour and the hospital was at least 20 minutes away, we called our friends to come and get the girls and then left while our visibly shaken Home Teachers waited with the girls. What a ride to the hospital! I was sure that Sierra was going to be born in the van and kept telling Mark to pull over and then to speed up. Mark just kept driving as fast as he could! By the time we got to the hospital I was ready to push and not very friendly with the staff that was trying to get admittance information. After a couple of minutes they realized that I was serious and called my doctor down to get me. Mark went out to move the van to a parking space and barely made it back in time. Sierra Riley was born after only 21 minutes of labor and we were all so excited to finally meet her!


Sierra is such a sweet girl and we love having her in our family. She is a good sport about all of the time she has to spend in the van running her sisters everywhere they need to go. Sierra gets so excited when the girls come home from school, especially Ashtyn! She loves her sisters and being able to play with them. She is my little shadow throughout the day, "helping" me around the house and with my errands and always wanting a play mate. One of our rules is that we don't want to make her happy because she has an ear-piercing squeal, but we love her laugh and smile. Happy Birthday, sweet girl!

Kids Say the Darndest Things

My little Sierra doesn't talk a whole lot. It's not that she can't, she just doesn't want to and doesn't have to! Talk about stubborn! When she does talk, it's always in her "movie language" which means that it always has something to do with Disney Princesses or Mickey Mouse. If she gets hurt or really mad she mumbles for a minute and then yells "Donald Duck!". Wonder where she got that?!! So funny!

Potty training 101

Okay, I know that I have 4 children and I have certainly faced this challenge before. But I need help! Sierra will be 3 within the next several weeks, is still not potty trained, and has absolutely no interest in it. I know that she will probably train herself when SHE is ready, but how do I spark some interest? I have bought the panties, rewarded little successes and talked until I am blue in the face about how she is not a baby and that diapers are yucky-- yada, yada, yada! She sees everyone else using the bathroom (trust me, I NEVER go alone!) and I think she really does understand the concept. Any ideas on how to get her interested?