More potty talk...

It has been quite a year. I started potty training Kayden a year ago. A whole year. And...wow. There have been MANY loads of laundry and many moments of frustration. She seemed to catch on really quickly but soon regressed with renos then a new baby throwing our routine out the window. And she never seemed to recover. By November we were well into a new routine but things just weren't getting better in terms of accidents. And I knew she was smart enough/old enough to catch on...something just didn't seem right. So I started looking into medical reasons for why potty training would be a struggle and wouldn't you know, constipation was the culprit! She's been plugged pretty much since starting solid foods and we noticed that when she was especially plugged, she had trouble holding her pee. But it never crossed my mind that constipation could be the reason she didn't feel her pee coming ALL the time! Ugh! I felt so bad. Here we had been trying to train her for almost a year and she was obviously trying but simply couldn't feel the urge to go! So we continued training but with extra motivation to solve her constipation issues as quickly as possible. Diet changes didn't seem to help much so I took her to the doctor in December. He suggested "Lax-a-Day." We tried it and it did help but when we stopped for a few days over Christmas, so did her pooping. I didn't feel good about a laxative being a permanent solution so I started looking at other things we could try. Two weeks ago we cut out dairy (switched to almond milk instead) and, without going into detail, I'll just say that it was a very good two weeks! Best two weeks she's had since she was exclusively breastfed! But almost none of that "good two weeks" made it into the potty, unfortunately, because for the first time that she could remember, she didn't have to sit and strain for half an hour to get it out...it just came! And took her by surprise...and didn't give her time to get to the potty. But talk about encouraging! Kayden, on the other hand, has seemed pretty discouraged with the whole potty training thing lately. And who could blame her? It's been a year of more accidents than successes. She recently just stopped telling us when she had accidents, wearing her wet pants until we noticed, and that's not cool. So yesterday I suggested that we take a break, go back to diapers, and when she turns 3 (10 days), she will be a big girl and can go back to panties and we'll try again with the whole staying dry thing. She seemed very grateful for the break. (She often tells me "I'm just having a break, Mama.") I'm a little nervous that she will lose what little bit she was trained...but I've also spent most of the past year feeling like success is "just around the corner" and it never was. So at this point I'm willing to take a small step back in hopes of a renewed girl when we start training again. It's been a long road. It's about as different from Levi's training as it could be (he was trained at 21 months within a few days, nights too by 22 months). This experience hasn't made me doubt that early potty training is wrong. I will still try to potty train Maddie before or around her second birthday. But I will make sure that there are no medical issues standing in her way of success. I kinda feel like I've failed Kayden. How could I have missed that for so long? I just hope that, once we have this constipation thing under control, potty training will be fast and easy and that it will build her confidence right back up again!

Madelyn - 7 months

Oh seven months. Seven beautiful months with this smiley girl. Where do I start? Maddie is such a joy in our lives. She absolutely lights up whenever she sees any of us (mama, daddy, Levi or Kayden). She laughs and smiles and shrieks with joy. She also growls, which I'm pretty sure actually started last month and not this month, but I think it's the cutest thing. She will growl when she's upset (think frustrated growl) and also when she's happy (think "I just told a lame joke and I know it" growl). It's not happening as much lately but it had been a regular noise from her for a couple months. She's also babbling a bit but nothing sounding like words yet. Mostly "oooh's" and "urrr's" and "aaah's". That sort of thing. She does this noise on the inhale when she's really happy. This girl really is happy a lot. She wakes up happy, she is awake happy and she (almost) goes to sleep happy. Almost. She puts herself to sleep but there is usually at least a little protest. Usually inder 2 minutes though.

Speaking of sleep, Maddie is a decent sleeper for her age. No, she's no sleeping through the night. She will surprise me every couple months but usually she is up for a feed twice a night. She is still swaddled. I tried to ditch the swaddle this month but it resulted in more night wakings and half hour naps so I brought it back and the first night swaddled again was one where she slept through. So...I'm thinking she just wasn't ready. Or I wasn't. She naps twice a day, at around 10 and 2:30 and sleeps for 90 minutes each time. She has started resting her head on my shoulder as I pat her back before putting her in her crib. I'm not sure if she knows it, but this little thing sure earns her a few extra minutes of snuggles before bed every time! It is so sweet! She still nurses every two hours during the day, unless she naps long. I've added a solid food night snack in the evening which she usually gobbles up pretty well. She also loves to eat any food that we're eating so I'll often give her little bites off my plate. She has a cheerio snack at the table with us while we eat supper. She's become quite good at getting the Cheerios into her mouth this month!

Madelyn's favourite things (the things that make her jump and grin and shriek) are mommy, daddy, Levi, Kayden, and MIRRORS! She used to just look into mirrors and watch herself or others but now she will almost jump out of my arms when I hold her in front of the mirror (or even just walk by one...it surprises me because I don't even realize that there's a mirror and suddenly she's jumping in my arms and so excited! She also really enjoys her exersaucer, dogs, cats, the Tylenol bottle with the squishy rubber top, anything with tags, and anything she can get into her mouth.
 

Object permanence seems to have kicked in big time this month. She notices when I leave the room or take away a toy. And then there are tears. She is definitely a mama's girl. Kayden and Levi still love to go in and "help" her when she wakes from a nap. "Help" consists of running into her room and talking to her through the rails of her crib until I get there. It's super cute and she doesn't usually seem to mind. She loves her big brother and sister! And I never get tired of seeing that sibling connection grow and deepen. It's my prayer that they will enjoy each other's company forever. 

Maddie has been sitting for a while but this month she learned that she can pivot and scoot a bit. She has started catching herself with one arm when she starts falling so I've found her leaning on one hand and whining to be rescued a couple times! She's also learned that if she grabs onto something that slides on the floor, she can push it away from herself and then pull herself to it and move along the floor like that. It's fun to watch! She sometimes seems like she's trying to pull herself up but isn't there yet. She is grabby, grabby, grabby and her grip is strong! If she gets a handful of skin or even just a little skin between her fingers, yeow! It actually really hurts! I've considered swaddling her while I nurse because she pinches any skin she can touch, grabs my hair (the tiny little hairs on the back of my neck are her favourite) and tries to rip off my nose. Ouch. 

Maddie was weighed this month when she was in for her 6 month immunizations and was 15lbs 14oz and 25.5". She's small for her age but short and chunky (surprise, surprise!). She's wearing 6-12 month clothes (the other day we happened to see Kayden wearing the same clothes in pictures from last Christmas!). Her eyes are definitely turning brown, though they have a bit of dark grey around the outside most days. Her hair is medium brown and what little bald spot she had is filled in nicely. She doesn't have much hair but when it's freshly washed, it's so nice and soft/fuzzy. There's nothing quite like baby hair :)

In some ways, it feels like not much has changed in the last month but at the same time you can tell that she's growing and changing. The first year of a baby's life is so full of fun stages and I would say we are definitely in a sweet spot right now. She's happy, easily pacified, easily entertained, sleeps pretty well, and doesn't move much. She's so much fun. We love you, Maddie! We're looking forward to the coming month to see how you grow up and learn new things!

And of course, a shot of what happens while I take pictures :)