2012, the year of ?

We are well and truly off and running in the new year.  Natalie went back to school bright and early this morning, and contrary to some days right before Christmas, she was actually happy to go to school and said she was looking forward to seeing her friends, teacher and aide.  It's Tuesday so Lukas attended his once-a-week classes with the homeschool co-op.  As we were leaving the house, Lukas suggested getting a picture of him on his first day of school in 2012.  Of course I obliged!  You will notice Lukas wearing shorts:  it was 84 degrees (29 C) today.

The next picture serves two purposes:  second, to document Natalie's toes (other RTS parents may be interested...her big toes are not significantly odd, but they are definitely wider than typical, similar to her thumbs).  But the first reason we show this picture is the new thing we're trying with potty training: an alarm.  You can see the pager-type thing that is attached to her shirt, then the wire attaches to her underwear.  At the first hint of wetness, the alarm goes off with a sound and vibrates.  The idea is to catch her right when she starts to pee, and then she can hold it until we get her to the bathroom.

If you had asked me to make a bet, I would have bet good money that Natalie would NOT accept wearing this.  But it just goes to show that you never know until you try!  I put it on her right before the Rose Parade started, because I knew that would distract her from this contraption on her back...and it worked!  She asked to remove it a few times the first day, but now she doesn't even ask.  And it has helped her stop when she's already started...we're still working on getting her to go on the toilet.  But the addition of the alarm to our potty training routine has really reduced the stress on the adults watching her.  We continue to take her on a regular schedule, but we don't have to be watching her constantly in fear of an accident being left somewhere, because the alarm goes off as soon as she starts, and she's learned to stop when she hears and feels the alarm.

We hope that by consistently using the alarm, and consistently putting her in underwear during her every waking moment (the school wants her in a pull-up, so the underwear is under the pull-up) that she will regain the potty use she had before school started...and surpass it!  Thanks for your prayers for a positive outcome with this.

In other potty training news...dare I say it?  Dominik has been attending Natalie's potty activities with unusual interest for the past three months.  This week, he's decided it's his turn.  He has asked several times to be put on the toilet; he has actually peed in the toilet once, and peed on the floor right after I took him off the toilet twice.  Where did this child come from?  I am definitely not ready to potty train a 20-month old...I thought potty training Dominik would fit into my schedule this summer.  But true to form, children don't always follow their parents' schedules.  I am not going to encourage this further (right now), but if he asks to get on the toilet, I'm not going to tell him "no."  OF COURSE NOT! 

So, I AM NOT PREDICTING ANYTHING, but it crossed my mind that 2012 might be the year of No More Diapers at The Happy Ones.  We have 12 months to see what happens!