Lil' B is now 3 years old (and about 5 months) and we have been potty trained for months now during the day - most of the time. Yes, we still have the occasional day accident like this past weekend when I was doing laundry. I went to her room to put away clothes and realized there were a pair of panties on the floor. Upon further investigation I realized they were wet (fun). Next up comes the search for 'the wet spot' in the house. Here is how the conversation went. Me: Bai, do you have panties on? Bai: Yep (lifts skirt to show me) Me: Did you pee pee? Bai: Yeah Me: Where? Bai: Over here (points to spot in kitchen) Me: (Observing that it's mostly dry) Did you clean it up? Bai: Yeah, with the towel (points to the kitchen towel sitting on the sink that I JUST finished wiping my hands on) Me: Oh (sarcastically) I see! (GROSS!!! Quickly rewashes hands after I toss the towel in the laundry!) Aside from those rare moments we're still wearing diapers at night! ... [ Read More ]
News & Updates from Around the Cloth Diapering Community
Would you like to know the very latest happenings around the cloth diapering community? I thought so! For starters, let me say that while I may not get my blog updated as much as I like I am still very active in the community. You can find me most days on Facebook where I moderate several cloth diapering community pages including my own. I can also be found blogging for other companies and appear as a guest of a few blogs as well. I'll try to do better with cross posting here so you don't miss a single article from me. News from this week: Wednesday night Kim Rosas from Dirty Diaper Laundry hosted an amazing Twitter Party for the Giving Diapers, Giving Hope organization. The community raised over $1,500 so far in their fundraising efforts to become an official non-profit and to continue supporting families in 2012. You can read more about the campaign on Dirty Diaper Laundry and enter to win some amazing prizes through Feb. 14th on her Facebook fan page. To review the ... [ Read More ]
5 Steps to Successful Potty Training
To read more about these 5 Steps for Successful Potty Training you'll have to visit the Kelly Wels blog; where I am one of the Cloth Diaper Ambassadors. I'm already planning a potty training series for later this month that will discuss the training pants that are available on the market today and some ugly truths about potty training. I hope you'll follow me and learn more about the Cloth Diaper Ambassador team. ... [ Read More ]
How to Store Cloth Diapers
Oh no, the time has finally come to pack up our cloth diapers and decide what to do with them next. We are finally potty trained during the day and only use 2 diapers or training pants each day. We're still using cloth so I need to save a few for nights and naps. How to Store Cloth Diapers (for future children) 1. Clean your diapers thoroughly. Now is a good time to wash your diapers very well. This should include a good wash followed by a good stripping to remove any mineral and detergent that has built up in your diapers. Depending on your machine and how dirty your diapers are I would recommend the following routine: 1 warm rinse cycle (or 1 full warm water wash cycle) with no detergent 1 hot wash cycle with your favorite detergent (you can add Calgon or RLR if you have hard water). (Optional) You may choose to add a small amount of bleach to this hot wash cycle if you think they need to be sanitized. Remember to check your manufacturers directions for ... [ Read More ]
Saying Goodbye to Cloth Diapers
I have officially been writing about potty training since April (that's 8 months if you're counting) and I am happy to announce that Lil' B is daytime potty trained! I think we actually achieved this success several weeks ago but it's taken me this long to admit that we're done with cloth diapers. Over the weekend as I was revamping the tots room I cleared out all of the cloth diapers and put them in laundry baskets until I could figure out what to do next. Tonight I organized them and placed them into pretty piles and matched up all of my orphaned inserts. Now, what should I do with all of these beautiful fluffy diapers that I've collected over the past (almost) three years? I have so many options on what to do with them. I know I could find good homes for all of them in less than 24 hrs but I'm picky (stingy, clingy, etc) and want to make sure I make the 'right' decision. Help me decide where I should send my fluff!! Friends and Friends of Friends! Remember my ... [ Read More ]
The Light at the End of the Potty Training Tunnel
Yes, I think I see the light at the end of this very long potty training tunnel. It's been a really good week for us. School: This past week she made it almost every day in the same outfit. The only time she had accidents were near misses when she made it to the bathroom but missed the toilet. I think she's even making it through nap time dry! Home: We're getting there. We still struggle with the post-school, dinner time, witching hour! I think she had accidents almost every night right before dinner because we're just so busy getting dinner ready that we forget to remind her. Out and About: This past Friday I decided to drive up to my parents (about 2 hours away). I put a diaper cover over her big girl panties in case we had an accident in the car. When we got to our destination she was DRY! I think I was a little shocked and extremely proud! We're still sleeping in a diaper (don't think we're there yet). She's GREAT at going potty before bedtime because it's a ... [ Read More ]
Potty Training?! Potty Trained?! The Saga Continues…
**In my whispering voice so I don't jinx myself** I swear if you would have asked me 6 months ago if I would STILL be potty training my daughter I would have said you were crazy! My regular readers may remember our last 4 posts about potty training have all been negative. Today I think I'm seeing the light at the end of the very long tunnel - we're on Day 2 of no daytime diapers! Monday Lil' B started her new big girl class at preschool so I thought I would try to be a little more consistent with our training efforts at home. Yesterday I asked her if she wanted to wear her big girl panties to school and she said yes. Just like all of our other failed attempts I sent her to school with both diapers, panties, and 2 spare outfits expecting her to come home in a different outfit. I was shocked when she came walking through the door yesterday wearing the same outfit and the same panties and no dirty diapers. Having gained a little bit of confidence I decided to let her be a ... [ Read More ]
Flustered With Potty Training
Please remind me one day about how stubborn my tot is and that I never thought she would potty train! I don' t think I'll need you to remind me that she's stubborn - I think she comes by that naturally. For any new followers and readers my tot is 2 1/2 yrs old and we've been playing around with the potty for at least the last 6 months - probably longer. She's down to using about 4 diapers a day so we are on the winning side of the potty battle but probably the most frustrating. Her brother was so much easier to potty train - he was 26-27 months and completely out of diapers both at night and during the day. I know that's rare but it was so easy for us back then. They say cloth diapering leads to early potty training, right? I think it depends on the child and the family. The tot is our second child so we don't have all day to dote on her and live at a toddlers pace. We are always on the go and rarely stay put. I know that if she were my first child that I might be typing a ... [ Read More ]
Potty Training & Cloth Diapers – Not there yet!
I feel like I've been writing about potty training for months now - probably because I have been. I'd have to look back to see when we officially began potty training but with cloth diapers we've really been working up to potty training for a long time... ...and we're not done yet! We are now sending Lil' B to school each day in big girl panties or reusable/cloth training pants. She loves her big girl panties and doesn't really want to wear a diaper very often - especially to school. She does pretty good at school but we're still coming home with at least one wet or soiled outfit a day - sometimes 2 or 3 outfits. It's not just the panties that are wet, it's also the shorts, the socks, and yes - sometimes even the shoes! Her teachers and classmates have really helped her get to where she is today but we still have a long way to go. For the last 2 weeks I've stopped sending diapers to school with her. She has one diaper in her cubby in the event that we run out of other ... [ Read More ]
Update on Potty Training
Wonder what this week has been like for potty training? After last weeks post about Lil' B not being ready I thought I would give you a quick update on our progress. This past week has been a little hectic (as it always is around our house) and we've not been able to work on potty training very much. Lil' B usually have 2-3 successes each day and some of them actually surprise me. Saturday we were at the little league park and she told me that she had to pee-pee. Off we went to the dirty little bathroom that doesn't even have a changing table in the attempts to use the 'big girl potty!' Guess what? We go there and she was completely dry and pee'd on the potty. Then there are moments like this afternoon which are the exact opposite. She was wearing her big girl panties around the house, I was cooking, or cleaning, or something when my son came to tell me she spilled some water on her floor. Um, no honey - that's pee-pee! She had pee'd by the door and went right back to ... [ Read More ]