Our Nighttime Potty Problem & Pull-Ups

We have a 4.5 year old and a 3 year old (almost).  They are both "potty trained" - mostly.  You see, Manasseh has been in underwear during the day for over 2 years, but cannot quite get the sleep time problem under control.  Cassius has been in underwear during the day since August 1 (my birthday present to myself), but also can't get the sleep pottying figured out.  We have been through a number of solutions.  The stores offer quite a selection of options.

Pull - Ups

We tried waking Manasseh in the night before we went to bed so he could use the restroom.  This worked sometimes.  We tried letting them sleep in their "day time underwear" in hopes that wetting would wake them and they would learn to get up before that happened.  We tried cloth training pants, but did not have enough to get through more than 1 or 2 nights.

Pull-Ups

Cassius loves the designs on Pull-Ups training pants.  Both of the boys love the wetness indicators.  Each morning when they wake up, they check to see if they have wet.  I love that they can see their success immediately, and that because Pull-Ups wick the wetness away from the body, they usually sleep through the night.

 

Because Manasseh is a slim guy, both boys can wear the same size training pants.  He loves the "Mater" prints, Cash loves "Lightening McQueen" because he is red.  As we are teaching our boys to be independent, it is helpful to have training pants that they can put on themselves.  We found that it is easiest to keep them on a shelf in their bedroom so that as they dress for nap and bed, they can grab the print of their choice to snuggle up in.  

 

We love that we can buy them at Walmart with their "rollback" prices (online and in the store).  We bought just over 100 training pants for about $40.  That is almost 2 months worth of sleep times with 2 boys!  

While it is not the "greenest" solution for our family, Pull-Ups seem to work best for our boy's at this point.  We gladly continue to use them as our boys increase in independence and ability!

Tips about potty training.

A potty training story.

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The Problem Fingers

 

My sweet finger sucker is 14 months old now.  I love how easily this precious boy lulls himself to sleep when he is tired.  I love that he lets me know he needs to rest.  Upon being set into his crib with his blanket, he clenches is in the right hand gently rubbing his face.  The first two fingers of his left hand slip into his mouth.  He is asleep in just moments.

I have never had a finger sucker before.  Manasseh was always bad at soothing himself.  Cassius loved to be swaddled until he was 10 months old, and a pacifier helped to soothe him to sleep more quickly.  It was easy to break him of the pacifier.  I simply took it away.  I stopped giving it to him.  He learned to go to sleep without it.

The problem?  I can not take the fingers away.  I've heard that protective services frown on that anyhow.  I know that they used to make yucky tasting nail paints that people used to help with finger sucking.  I'm not sure it is my favorite idea.  I do not want to just make him stop.  I want to help him find a better way to soothe himself when he is tired.  I have no idea what to do.

Please, share advice in the comment box below!  Tell me a story about helping your young one stop finger sucking.  Who was it hardest for, you or your child?  What crazy things did other people tell you?  What actually worked.  What soothing techniques do you use with your toddler at bed time that help eliminate the fingers?

The Placebo Effect

You've heard of it.  Maybe you have even had experience with the placebo effect.  It is truly amazing how many times a non-medicine can have an effect on a person's health.  Why does this happen?  We convince ourselves that we are getting better because we believe that we have actual medicine.  The mind and body can be amazing sometimes!

I had some experience with a placebo when I worked as a first aid administrator years ago.  You see, when you are working at a camp you have a lot of homesickness.  We frequently used the code name, "Marshmellow Fever".  So many times the sick child really just needed a break from activity to receive some extra special attention from an adult.  Sometimes the cure was writing a letter, others it was simply talking.

One of my favorite camp time placebos was the "stomach ache" medicine.  I kept a few "pills" in the cabinet for special times of need.  They had the letter "S" on them and a fruity flavor if you chewed them.  I generally recommended swallowing them quickly because I did not want my campers to figure out that the placebo of choice was really a Skittles candy.  They worked like a charm.  In fact one particularly homesick little girl was having a miserable day.  She was terribly sick and could not function.  She came into the office and sat down.  We talked a while, and when that did not help, I offered her some stomach ache medicine.  Immediately she was better and on the way back into regular activities.  Ah the miracle of Skittles.

Last night one of my children, the one that will be 3 in just under a month, was having a terrible night.  He just could not let himself relax to go to sleep.  After what felt like hours of him screaming about a scratch on his back, I requested that daddy go get some "H2O medicine" in a med cup.  Randy obliged and brought it to our screaming preschooler.  Cassius quickly drank the medicine that Randy assured him would make his back better and make him VERY sleepy.  Upon finishing his medicine, he laid back down quietly.  Within a minute he was screaming about wanting another medicine cup with water.

I guess we can fool ourselves, we can fool campers, but when it comes to 3 year olds - they know all the tricks!

Woombie Toddler Donut: Review & Giveaway

I have to say that I never expected the Woombie Toddler Donut to be such a big part of everyday life at the Crum house.  When I first considered reviewing it, I thought about how great it would be for holiday travel - and it is, but it has become an essential part of this mama's daily routine!

Monkey was SUPER excited when the Donut came in the mail.  I let him open it and while opening it - I cooked up a plot to get him to sleep at naptime that day.  I told him it was his "special nap bed".  That is the beginning of the Toddler Donut's daily use at our house.  Monkey laid down in it as soon as we were ready for nap time.  He uses it for naps, and even sometimes for bed time, while he waits downstairs for Crackers to fall asleep in the room they share.

The Woombie Toddler Donut is amazing for travel.  My initial thought was that it would help when visiting my parents.  They have 2 pack'n'plays, we have 3 children.  Monkey is VERY possessive about the square pack'n'play, and really he is getting too big for it.  Having his "special nap bed" along with us at Thanksgiving made helping him transition out of the baby bed a little easier.  (It would have been even easier if Mr. Crum had not set the square one up).  This bed will be traveling with us all winter for visiting friends and family.  When we start camping this summer, it will continue to travel with us!

photo from woombie.com

Poor Crackers feels left out.  He often runs and jumps onto the Toddler Donut to antagonize his big brother - but we also find him sleeping on it sometimes if it's been left in their bedroom instead of folded up downstairs!  When we have the money to spare, we will look at one for him too.

What Mama Loves

I love that this helps us solve some nap dilemmas.  The Woombie is wonderful for easy travel.  I also love that it is: Foam Free, Glue Free, Odor Free, Hypo Allergenic, Non Toxic, Lead & Phthalate Free, Non Flammable and Recyclable!

What Mama Would Change

Well, Monkey still wets the bed... I would love it if Woombie would get him sleep trained.  His wetting made me quickly aware of the need to wash our Toddler Donut.  This has to be done in a front loading washer.  We don't have one, so it requires a trip to the laundry mat to wash it.  I would love it if Woombie offered some kind of slip on cover that would soak up bodily fluids and dirt and could easily be washed in a top loading machine.

What the Boys Love

The boys adore the leopard print, Monkey likes to sleep with a stuffed leopard and thinks it's extra cool to have a leopard bed.  They also like the soft feeling of the plush material that covers the top of the bed.  Monkey thinks it is nice to be able to move his bed to different parts of the house, or to other people's houses!

photo from woombie.com

Want One?

You can buy your very own Woombie Toddler Donut in "spring" or "leopard" for only $68!  Your kids will thank you and you will thank yourself!

You can also win a Toddler Donut RIGHT HERE.  Fill out the easy Rafflecopter form for your chance to win the choice of either color.  One winner will be selected on Friday December 9th!

Mommy Lesson #11

Moral: Clear the table before you feed the baby.

Story:

Okay, so we finished our spinach artichoke dip dinner (yum) and Mr. Crum needed to run an errand - QUICKLY.  He was kind enough to take Monkey with him, leaving me with 22 month old Crackers, and 3 week old baby.  

Naturally, baby got hungry - leaving Crackers somewhat unattended.  Mr. Crum had cleaned up a few of the dinner dishes, but not all.  There were still cups and tortilla chips on the table. 

Crackers is a scavenger.  He loves food, he hunts for food, he FINDS food.  He was climbing from chair to chair, doing his typical after dinner search - making sure to get every last morsel.

He emptied everyone's cups (except mommy's because I did not want him drinking coffee).

As soon as I was able, I put baby down and cleared the table.

When Mr. Crum got home, he started getting the "big" boys ready for bed.  Crackers was emphatic that he was not ready for bed.  In fact, he was very vocal about this for about 3 hours.  This is VERY unusual for our little guy.  He's generally pretty easy, we put him in bed, he talks or sings until he falls asleep.  Tonight he would not stay in bed, he screamed he yelled, he cried... I could not figure out what was going on.

That is, until about 10 minutes ago, when Mr. Crum said, "I should finish my coffee from dinner..."

Oh... there was coffee in your cup?  I thought it was empty.  Crackers finished it.  How much was there?... half a mug... oi.. no wonder he couldn't sleep.

Next time - we clear the table while baby screams his head off.  My toddler does not need the coffee, especially at bed time!

Sharing a room

I love it that my boys are friends.  They love to play and jabber and laugh together.  They like to bounce on each other's beds (until mama catches them) and tell jokes that only they understand.  It is so cute, and so much fun.

Recently I decided to move their beds into the same side of their large bedroom.  Previously they were separated by a partial wall for sleep time - now the other side of the room is preparing to be the "classroom" area.  It made sense to move them because their room has 1 air conditioner and 1 heat vent - both on Monkey's side of the room.  So I decided that while Mr. Crum was at work one day, I would take care of it.

Everything fits so nicely the way it's set up.  It's great being able to read with both of them easily at bed time.  It's friendly having them in their together.  Until it comes time for actually sleeping.  We have a couple of problems when it's actually sleep time.

Problem 1:  My boys are friends - they want to play and entertain each other to avoid sleep.

Problem 2: Monkey has decided he is ready to actually go to sleep, but Crackers still wants to entertain everyone, so he squeals and giggles and jumps in his bed... and Monkey gets angry and frustrated.

It's unpredictable exactly which problem we'll run into when.  Generally nap time is easier than bed time for some reason.  We've attempted to fix this problem by separating them at the start of bed time.  Crackers goes to bed first - he's generally easier to get to sleep - while Mr. Crum reads to Monkey.  Mr. Crum puts Monkey to bed when he's done reading.  This works when Monkey feels like he wants to sleep AND Crackers has already fallen asleep.

Does anyone else have struggles with shared bedrooms?  Does anyone have great solutions?  These boys are likely to share a bedroom for a very long time!

My nemesis

If you recall, about a week ago, I wrote a blog about my "spoiled sleeper".  This sweet boy that has a hard time going to sleep on his own, because he's always been close to us at sleep time.

He is not my nemesis... NAPS are my nemesis right now.  I have no idea why, but in the last week, this little man has suddenly decided that he does not really like taking naps.  No, he HATES naps.  It's not that he's outgrowing them, he still sleeps for 2-3 hours (minimum) once he goes to sleep, but he does not WANT to sleep.  His behaviors, when he chooses not to sleep are ridiculous because he has a hard time focusing on activities (ie, speech therapy) when he's tired.

Rough week with naps.  Rough week for Monkey.  I'm working on a new nap time strategy.  Does anyone have a brilliant idea about how to help a 2.5 year old fall asleep when it's sleep time?  How do you teach your kids to relax?