Potty Chair Progress

Potty training. That's a topic that has frightened me from the beginning. I can't seem to wrap my head around how on Earth I'm going to "train" Harper to use the big girl potty. I decided since we're approaching the 20 month mark, it might be a good time to purchase a potty chair just to get her used to the idea and try to explain the whole "potty process." 

Over the weekend we brought home an Elmo themed toilet, put it together and let her check it out. She thought it was pretty cool, her very own chair - with a flusher! That night she sat for a few minutes, only problem - she was fully clothed. 

Then Monday, it happened. We just finished up bath-time (which she hates now, ugh) and we were about to put a diaper on. I asked her, "Harper, do you want to sit on your potty chair?" Surprisingly she said, "yes" so that's just what we did. It was still in the middle of our living room, but I didn't really expect an outcome of this first trial run. She sat on her big girl seat and I kept saying, "if you get up, we have to put on a diaper." She quickly sat back down. As I mentioned, this was all happening in the living room. She continued sitting on her Elmo chair watching the Pajanimals on Sprout. The next time she got off, I checked the bucket and sure enough - we had pee! I jumped up, screaming "YOU DID IT, YOU WENT POTTY IN YOUR POTTY!" She just looked at my like I was a complete looney tune. I was so excited, we quickly put a diaper on and marched outside where Mitch was cutting grass just to tell him the news! Even though I'm almost certain this whole success story was a complete fluke, it was still an exciting Mama moment. We've moved the chair to its permanent home (the bathroom) and have had a few more potty attempts - but no success. We'll get there, baby steps.

Besides her latest obsession with Crocs (Croc update - we bought another pair plus croc accessories. It's official, I've gone insane) stickers are another current fav. Earlier this year before one of our plane trips, Mitch bought Harper an Elmo sticker book for $5 at Walmart. We're now into August, and she's still getting hours of entertainment out of this thing. The only downfall is, we have stickers EVERYWHERE. They hold her attention forever; she peels them off, one by one - usually sticking them to her belly. From there, she'll remove them (again, one by one) and move them to a new location. She probably does this 3-5 times before she finally gets bored. This past weekend Harper used Mitch's face as her canvas, and it was hilarious. I had to snap a quick pic to share!

On Sunday we also celebrated a very special birthday, Clay turned 1! That afternoon we headed up to St. Cloud to wish him a happy birthday. It had been a while since we've seen the Medford's, and as usual we had an amazing time. Harper loved Madison, she was practically her little shadow. We played at the park behind their house, met the newest member of the family Prince, and enjoyed watching Clay open gifts and smash that cake! It's hard to believe Clay Bear is already 1 - Happy Birthday Clay!

The work week was busy for both Mitch and I, so it was nice to sneak a mid-week date night into our schedule. Wednesday, Mitch got us Twins tickets through his work - so we headed to Target Field for the first time this season. The weather was perfect, the Twins were not. We still loved our night out and enjoyed every minute scarfing cheeseburgers and downing Summits. Now that's how you watch at baseball game!

This is our last free weekend for awhile, so we're going to try to take full advantage. We may mosey to the Uptown Art Fair and the local Family Expo. All I know is we have no set plans, and I'm loving that.

Enjoy your weekend everyone!

Until next time...

The Helleen's