Growing Up

Rory has officially started potty training (sort of). For the last month or so she has been showing a great interest in the potty, grabbing my hand to walk me to it and even going as far as sitting on it and flushing. Well yesterday she asked to use the potty late morning and then again in the evening she told me she needed to poo poo. Of course by the time we got to the potty she had already started to go but I sat her on it anyway and she finished in the potty! Her "O"  face will forever be imbedded in my brain when she heard the plop in the toilet lol.                            : c o      <------ My attempt at typing her facial expression.

Anyway, I called my lovely sister in law who has two boys and a girl that are all potty trained. Cic is 14 months older than Rory so the SIL has actually just finished up potty training with her in the past few months therefore I knew she would have a nice fresh memory of what I needed to do. Her advise, get big girl panties and m & m's. She said not to bother with the toilets or seats because in her experience they want to use the real deal....I also read this from several other moms in different places on the internet. So panties and candy it was, easy enough for me. I ran to the store, picked up a pack of 10 2t panties and a bag of mini m & m's. (It was my mom's idea to do the minis and I'm so glad she did cause they serve the same purpose with less sugar! Now I just have to stay out of them.....)

Today I have put miss Rory on the potty at least 5-6 times. One of those times she just kept getting on and off. I think she thought if she got on and off she would get a reward each time. Sneaky little thing she is. She hasn't used the potty yet today and I'm okay with that. I'm just glad she is showing a true interest in it. Once I get her undies cleaned I plan to put her in them. I'm going to attempt to use the 3 day potty training method but honestly I expect it to take longer since she's much younger than the recommend aged to start (22 months). I'm definitely not going to rush her though. I want her to be completely ready and I am pretty sure she will know when she is. I'm just excited diapers may be a thing of the past in the near future!

On another note, I was browsing a blog called Lily of the Valley and came across some interesting info. She is a stay at home mom with 5 kids, home schools, lives frugally and appears to be all the things I wish I could be....I mean, that I'm working towards (minus the five kids part). While browsing her blog I came across a link that read 10 Things to Do with Your Child Before Age Ten and of course it intrigued me because I'm always looking for ways to better myself as a parent and child care provider. You can follow the link yourself to read up but I wanted to insert a little of what it said because it gives me a good idea of what I can work on with Rory without going into drastic detail. I hope some of you will find her blog and links to other sites helpful. I haven't browsed a lot of it yet but what I have seen it appears to be good information.

Ten things to do with Children before age 10
1. Reading & Writing	Intensive Phonics; Copywork; start English Language Notebook
2. Oral Narration	Daily
3. Memorization	Bible; poetry; passages of literature; Greek and/or Hebrew alphabet
4. Hearing & Listening	Read aloud 2 hours per day from a variety of fiction and nonfiction; start History Notebook; timeline
5. Family Worship	Family Bible study morning and evening using grammar level questions
6. Arts & Crafts	Provide the time, space, and materials; develop creativity
7. Field Trips & Library	Start learning elementary library research; investigate the world
8. Work & Service	Schedule for chores; visit nursing home, etc.
9. Discipline	First-time obedience
10. Play & Exploration	Develop the imagination