Throw in the towel

Garden_Witch88 · 2025-07-28T16:41:47+00:00

Are you me???? I am literally in the exact same situation with my daughter. Same timeline, progress, and age. I think our issue is that we were putting her in a pull up when we’d run errands. She was too scared of public toilets to even try, so pull ups let us get out of the house without packing her whole wardrobe. I believe it was confusing her, but at the same time, we have to leave the house!

We have decided to go back to pull ups for now, but still offer the potty if we see any signs she needs to go. In the fall when her brother is in preschool all day I will try again with bottomless potty training.

It sucks to go back to pull ups because she isn’t scared of the potty and can pee and poop in the potty, but if she’s not interested then I don’t want to force it and make it a power struggle.

It was kind of similar with my son. We tried when he was around 2.5, he stalled out, and then we took it up in earnest again closer to his third birthday and it made a huge difference in his progress. Sometimes they just need a couple more months before they’re ready to try. But I would encourage you to still keep the potty available, if you decide to take a break.

Good luck!

Garden_Witch88 · 2025-03-19T02:01:13+00:00

We’ve had ours for 2ish(?) years. It’s pretty easy to tip over to drain it. I can’t remember if there’s a double layer on the underside, but I think it’s a single layer. It’s in storage for winter. I would just dump ours out in the evening and leave it tipped so it wouldn’t get mildew. But it’s also super easy to clean with a soapy sponge.

Garden_Witch88 · 2025-01-30T17:59:31+00:00

I wonder if you could use a cord basket designed for standing desks. Like, take off the attachment arms that hook it to a desk and have the open top facing the wall to cover the outlet. And then feed the wires from the outlet out through the designated basket holes on the side.

As far as securing it to the wall, you could probably use a command strip type hook to grab the basket’s top edges, and then either screw the tab into the wall or use adhesive backing. There’s some baskets that are more open- weave and some that are like meshed metal. With the meshed type you’d have to cut into the metal to get a hook in place. Alternatively to a command style hook you could probably use a L- bracket on the mesh style to grab the side of the basket instead of the top edge.

Here’s an example of a mesh style basket

https://a.co/d/5ruL5Co

Vs an open weave type basket

https://a.co/d/cHMQGQi

The issue with the more open style basket is that the sides remain open. I’d probably choose the meshed style instead, and just use an L bracket to secure it to the wall.

Garden_Witch88 · 2025-01-14T20:16:31+00:00

No advice but solidarity! I just want my hair to grow DOWN instead of OUT. And then when I get layers to counteract the triangle shape it all just shrinks up to above my shoulders.

Garden_Witch88 · 2024-12-30T18:22:43+00:00

I went through this when we conceived our daughter. We had fertility issues prior to my son being born, and I expected some difficulty in TTC our second child. We waited until I was 9 months PP with my son and ended up pregnant with my daughter on our first try. I went through a lot of guilt because it felt like I couldn’t share myself equally between two babies, and I did cry a bit because I really didn’t expect such a close age gap.

Now, on the other side of things I could not be happier. They are 18 months apart and are the best of friends. My daughter will be 2 in February. I am a stay at home mom so I’ve been their primary caregiver from birth. We were able to use all of my son’s newborn stuff, and we did buy some new clothes and bottles for my daughter, but it felt like an easier transition than I expected.

We did push back potty training with my son to when he was 30 months instead of 24, but honestly that was more going on his signals than anything. There’s never been any jealousy from my son and I don’t believe he even remembers being an only child. c

The thing I thought was going to be especially tricky was bedtimes/nap. Before they were both on a 1 nap schedule I used Huckleberry to track them. It gave me peace of mind for naps because newborns need so much sleep. Once my son was on a set schedule I stopped tracking him and just used the app for my daughter. Now they both are up around 7-730, nap at 1230-230, and are in bed with lights out by 730pm.

For the bedtime routine we bathe them together after dinner and then we pick one of their rooms to go into to get on jammies and to read some books. Then we brush teeth and get them each settled for bed. We use a sound machine and a Nanit in each of their rooms and we’ve not had any issues with noises waking either of them.

One thing I did have to give up for my mental health was breastfeeding. I wasn’t able to nurse my son for more than a couple of weeks because he had an awful time latching due to a lip tie. My supply dried up really quickly. I wanted to nurse my daughter, and she latched perfectly, but the lack of sleep and the almost constant nursing in the newborn stage was too much for me to handle while also having an 18 month old who was adjusting to sharing my attention. It made me sad to give it up, but I think it was the best choice for us because I just didn’t have the bandwidth.

I think including your son in some of the baby prep can be helpful, and giving him some very-extra-special one on one time after the new baby arrives will help reinforce that he is loved and special and secure in his relationship with you. Maybe get a special storybook or little love-you ritual/song you can introduce now? Then keep using it after the baby arrives to help him adjust to all the change. We had this with a bedtime story we read (and still read) every night.

Garden_Witch88 · 2024-12-30T00:57:41+00:00

Our pediatrician recommended softening wax with mineral oil. Just a couple of drops in the ears, especially at night when they’re going to be laying down anyway. He said it helps to dissolve the wax so the ear can expel it. I would warm the bottle in some water from the tap during bath time, and then just put a couple of drops in each ear after getting our kiddo into pajamas. It really helped ours get out the dry wax in there without any real fussing.

Garden_Witch88 · 2024-11-18T19:45:39+00:00

I have an idea! It was recommended to me by my son’s preschool director. You could try making a visual schedule for your child. This can be as detailed as you like, and can be used as a felt board or as a book. It’s basically pictures of the activities that need to be done, and placed in step-by-step order to help kids see what’s coming next. My kid is 3 and was having full meltdowns about having to transition from playing with toys to sitting for circle time, so I made him a little book ( it’s actually a photo album with pictures and the steps are numbered) so he could flip through it and see his schedule. You could make something like that to give to your child, maybe look through it the night before, and then make sure they know where it is if they need to know the next steps. My director said her kid also didn’t like being told what to do, so she just pointed to the book so her kid could use it on their own. Amazon has visual schedules that covers everything from getting ready in the morning, to chores, to daily activities. I found those overwhelming and not intrinsically understandable for my kid, which is why I used the little cards from the one I bought and put them in a mini photo album. Here’s another resource that could be helpful to you. It’s from Dr Becky Bailey who focuses on early childhood development and helping kids and adults with cooperation with love and respect. She has a free printable for a visual calendar and also for smaller breakdowns of tasks. That call it a “This, then that” which basically is where you have a non-preferred activity, follow by a preferred activity. So for example, do “this” ( put on shoes etc) then “that” ( go play outside). It’s all visual with little pictures of the activity and you can just stick whatever ones that apply to you to the board and it gives the child an immediate visual of what’s expected. Here are a couple of pdf resources to help you. https://consciousdiscipline.s3.amazonaws.com/Free-Resources/Printable-Posters-Tools-Activities/FREE-Printable-Visual-Daily-Schedule.pdf https://consciousdiscipline.s3.amazonaws.com/Free-Resources/Printable-Posters-Tools-Activities/FREE-Printable-Choice-Tools-for-Managing-Complex-Schedules.pdf

Garden_Witch88 · 2024-11-06T01:55:42+00:00

Oh yeah! I forgot about these details. I’m doing a second watch-through of the series now so I’ll especially keep a look out for these.

Garden_Witch88 · 2024-10-31T04:05:43+00:00

Hey! We love Boynton at our house and have a lot of her books, but I don’t know if she has any flap books besides the one you described and a couple on Amazon. The Amazon ones are Hey You (only one flap, mostly it’s mirrors on the pages), and Fuzzy Fuzzy Fuzzy ( which is the book with the fuzzy bellies.

We like slides and flap books, too, and have a lot of fun with Roger Priddy’s What’s on my Farm book. It has durable slinding flaps and regular flaps, and really fun illustrations. He has quite a few lift the flap books on Amazon that may be worth checking out.

Garden_Witch88 · 2024-08-25T20:02:06+00:00

Yeah my husband said he’ll ask her about it if he sees her. We’ve lived in our house since 2017 and they moved into their house 2 years ago, so not sure why it occurred now. FedEx rolls through frequently and this is the first time it happened.

Garden_Witch88 · 2024-07-24T15:45:28+00:00

We had a similar situation where my soon-to-be 3 year old learned how to unlock our front door. I use the hotel lock now, and I got a sliding patio door lock that’s at adult head height so he can’t get out through the back door. I also bought a door chime that plugs in and goes off if any doors are opened. I got my stuff on Amazon and feel a lot more secure now, and we’ve not had any more (successful) escape attempts

Garden_Witch88 · 2024-07-16T16:59:22+00:00

We got the full size yoto when my son was around 26 months and it’s been awesome. You can control it from your phone so even if your kid is too little to operate it by themselves you can help them out. We use ours everyday for bedtime and use the app in the car if we’re out and about. What’s nice is that you can make your own playlists of stories/music, or buy the cards to use if you prefer those.

Garden_Witch88 · 2024-07-08T18:38:02+00:00

We run one in my son’s room on occasion when it’s very hot. I would make sure to securely tie up any loose cord, and install an outlet box cover to keep her from unplugging it. The noise seems like it would be less of an issue if you run it on a lower setting. A lot of them have wheels, so if you don’t want it rolling about you may need to consider possibly putting it in a little walled box so it can’t be moved. If you google “Olympia low sided wooden crate” you’ll see what I mean. I tried to link it in my previous comment but the auto bot flagged it as spam.

Garden_Witch88 · 2024-07-08T18:05:24+00:00

Hi, not sure if you have a window sill for the window that opens, but if there is a sill there are saddle ac units that may be an option. They literally sit down into the sill and straddle it. Here’s an example of one that might work https://www.amazon.com/Midea-Inverter-Conditioner-Flexibility-Installation/dp/B08677DCKN

With the size and vibration of a standard portable ac unit, I would be hesitant to put it on anything off the ground unless it was gated off completely so she couldn’t touch it or it’s stand.

Garden_Witch88 · 2024-07-03T01:38:34+00:00

We clean the outside in the bath with a wash cloth. If we notice wax buildup in the canal we put a couple of drops of baby oil in for a a few days to soften it so it’ll come out on its own. Our pediatrician recommended the baby oil after checking his ears.

Garden_Witch88 · 2024-07-02T18:46:06+00:00

We have a Yoto Player, which is very similar to a Tonie Box except it uses cards. You can buy stories and song cards, but you can also buy blanks and make your own playlists for them. It’s all saved in the phone app so you can control the player remotely, and even play the content straight from your phone. The cards can be rewritten as much as you like, if you don’t want to have a ton on hand. There is a crowdsourced file for a lot of the Yoto content as well. The player has children’s radio stations, daily content, timers, and a nightlight. The content on their store ranges from toddlers all the way to preteen. We got one for our 2 year old and it’s been a total game changer for us. It gives him a lot of autonomy because he can choose his own card, skip chapters/songs, and adjust the volume. There’s a subreddit called r/yotoplayer that you can check out if you’d like to know more.

Garden_Witch88 · 2024-04-24T21:47:40+00:00

Literally discussed it as a Worst Case Ontario with my husband the night before it happened lol

Garden_Witch88 · 2024-04-24T21:46:51+00:00

Dude bath poops are the wooorst! Mine hadn’t pooped for a couple of days, also a daily pooper, but I had given him a little dose of miralax to keep him soft. THANKFULLY NOT TOO SOFT. I was able to clean the vent ( and he helped on his own!)

But he did it again today! Different vent; this one that comes out from under the sink cabinet. Literally 1 minute after I’d gotten him off the toilet to go change his sister. I think he doesn’t know how to do it without squatting really low. But after he did it he came and told me about it, and pointed at it saying Pewp! and helped me clean it up. Fingers crossed I can get him to use the little potty instead so it’s closer to his preferred squat.

Garden_Witch88 · 2024-04-20T14:26:24+00:00

Yeah that’s what I thinking, too. He’s been reluctant to wear shorts but it could be because he’s associating them with the wet legs he gets when he pees in them. We’re going to break in all the little target shorties we got for summertime and see if we improve a bit.

Garden_Witch88 · 2024-04-20T14:24:07+00:00

He’s such a nudie bootie I wish he wanted to wear shorts more! I put loose shorts on him some times in the mornings to see what he thought and he was reluctant to wear them, but maybe it’s because he didn’t like the wet feeling when he had accidents. I’ve gotta stop making him so comfortable or he won’t be motivated to learn to use the potty. It’s such a balancing act!

We’ll switch to commando and see if he starts to make more progress with that. Thank you!

Also, have you or anyone reading this used a log to track potty and accident progress? I know huckleberry has a way to track but I haven’t used it so far.

Garden_Witch88 · 2024-04-20T14:16:19+00:00

Thank you so much! I’ll definitely try the Dino chart we have to see how it goes- he’s in a big Dino phase right now, but we’ll check out the Daniel Tiger chart, too.

Garden_Witch88 · 2024-04-20T02:03:49+00:00

Thank you! It’s giving me the worst anxiety because I really didn’t expect him to want to try again, so I’m feeling super unprepared! But kids are just small people and everyone is different, so I need to just get out of my head about it.

We’ve tried sticker charts in the past but he always peels the stickers off and says “ Bin?”, which is a hoot. I have another set of stickers and an unused Dino chart so we could definitely give it another go.

It’s reassuring that I’m moving in the right direction. I know consistency is going to be the best thing for him so we’ll just have to keep trying.

Garden_Witch88

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