I'm on annual leave this week and had planned to potty train and, as it happened, Oscar got a temperature last Friday and wasn't allowed back to nursery until today (7 day self-isolating, COV-19 pandemic - I'm not gonna write about it because I'm pretty damn sure I'm not gonna forget about it).
We didn't get started until Monday and we set up a sticker chart, kept the potty in view and planned to put him in pants, try to get him to drink lots and sit him on the potty every 30 minutes. Here's our diary:
Monday
I took his pull-up off around half 8 and he wasn't in the best of moods. I explained the sticker chart but he wasn't interested in sitting on the potty for more than a few seconds. Eventually around 10 am he sat down for almost 45 minutes playing on my phone - he didn't want to get up. Sadly no joy. We put him in a pull-up for naptime which was still dry when he got up at 2! He then went back into pants and FINALLY did a wee, albeit mostly on the floor around 3 pm. We grabbed him and popped him on the potty to finish it and the same happened again around 6 pm. Then randomly about 6:15 pm he said "Oscar sit on my potty", pulled his pants down and I asked if he needed a wee. He said "no, poo poo" and did a poo! He was so proud of himself and he got a couple of stickers. It did highlight to us that he probably doesn't drink nearly enough though and even allowing a little squash didn't really help much. However, he had been eating and drinking virtually nothing over the weekend so maybe he was just re-hydrating and using the fluids.
Tuesday
He was a little more motivated but unfortunately the wees went on the floor again (half in the potty as we moved him as soon as we saw) during the morning. Again in the evening we got a poo on the potty and then a wee shortly after. He got some more stickers and a book as a reward for reaching five!
Wednesday
This was a real breakthrough of a day - we had two wees in the potty in the morning, then an accident on the floor whilst playing with water. We got a couple more pees in the potty in the afternoon, another accident and then a poo in the potty in the evening. Because he'd got another five stickers we gave him a little pairs game (I'd stocked up on 10 for £10 books from The Works and two £2 games).
Thursday
We absolutely cracked it today. Ant got up with him while I had a bit of a lie in and there were two potty wees. After that he went to work and I'm not joking, it got crazy. Oscar obviously was proud of himself and loved the praise (he stopped asking for or caring about stickers) so was squeezing out a tiny wee every few minutes. By lunchtime I must have emptied the potty 15 times. I'd just put my lunch in a bowl when he came in saying he'd been sick (reflux) on the carpet, I cleaned up and sat down then he weed, I cleaned up again and then he did a poo... it was ridiculous BUT all praiseworthy. In the afternoon, after his nap, we left him in his pull-up while we got him a snack and stuff. He came waddling into the kitchen with pants and pull-up around his ankles to tell us he had done a wee ON THE POTTY. Again the evening there was another poo. It was our first day with no accidents and he got another book as a reward.
Friday
This was a little bit of a setback but not really. He was back at nursery this morning and did all his wees in his pants. However, he did go up to the staff and say "Oscar done wee wee in pants" and ask for more trousers. We knew it would be harder for him at nursery as the potty isn't so close, it's all different and there are a lot more distractions. However this afternoon he took off his trousers and pull up after his nap to go in the potty and went a few more times. He did have a small accident on the sofa but that was in the midst of being really upset so not unexpected. He then did his evening poop in the potty just before the bath.
I'm so, so proud of him. I can't believe how well he's taken to it. We've stopped with the reward chart as he isn't asking for it - I honestly thought he was so motivated by the stickers that we might have to give them to him forever but apparently not! We will see how the next few weeks go!
Friday, 20 March 2020
Thursday, 12 March 2020
We're still here too...
Obviously I intended to write this post when I wrote the last one about Oscar but life got in the way and now, honestly, I'd rather just write another Oscar update. However, dutifully, I shall document our lives too!
Course
I have now finished my course. Well, almost. I've handed in my last assignment, had it returned and sent it back amended. Hopefully it will come back as acceptable and then that will be it. I'm expecting it to take a couple of months for the certificate to come through but my plan will be to look for a job to start in a school in September IF the IVF fails. If the IVF is successful then I'll be staying in the NHS until after my maternity leave otherwise I wouldn't be eligible for maternity pay in a new job etc. It's nice to be finished and have one less ball to juggle.
Business
Ant's business has taken a massive turn and he now owns his own personal training facility. We had resigned ourselves to nothing happening until next year but at the end of November he went to look at a property and it was perfect. We got the keys around the second week of December and then it was all hands on deck. We spent a LOT of time getting it cleaned up, laying flooring, building equipment etc especially over Christmas. Oscar was amazing as he ended up spending a lot of time there with us but it was nice to get him involved. We officially opened a couple of weeks into January and his business is going from strength to strength - it's slow to pick up but it's definitely going in the right direction. He hired a PR company who heard about his accident and he ended up on the radio, ITV news and has just done a piece for Gym Owner Monthly magazine as their featured gym owner.
IVF
We had our appointment at the beginning of January and they basically told us that we were good to go as soon as we were ready. We have a really busy end of this year with the Dixon wedding, Oscar's birthday, Christmas etc. so we don't want a due date until next year. With that in mind we decided to defer and we are due to start injections again on 1 April. With the current coronavirus issues we are wondering whether it will get cancelled... or whether we may not be able to travel to London... but we shall see, we have another couple of weeks to see how things pan out. I'm excited but also quite nervous - realistically this is our last shot.
Self-Employment
I've finally started doing some at-home typing for a company called DICT8 in the last couple of days and it's working out to be quite lucrative - there's not always work to do but I've managed to get about three hours in over the last few evenings/naptimes and my hourly rate is averaging about 1.5x my current wage at work so that's not so bad. I'm also doing some overtime on Sunday's at work and I get an 88% enhancement so it's close to double time, which is pretty good. Just trying to get every penny we can when we can in case we need to go for another round of IVF... or if we succeed this time we need a bigger house!
Fitness
I've finally got myself back in the gym and generally been managing two sessions a week although Ant is now starting to get so busy that it's been difficult especially with commitments to overtime and Oscar's Early Support Group. I definitely feel better for it although we've all had a string of illnesses this winter.
I think that just about gets you up to date of where we are now!
Course
I have now finished my course. Well, almost. I've handed in my last assignment, had it returned and sent it back amended. Hopefully it will come back as acceptable and then that will be it. I'm expecting it to take a couple of months for the certificate to come through but my plan will be to look for a job to start in a school in September IF the IVF fails. If the IVF is successful then I'll be staying in the NHS until after my maternity leave otherwise I wouldn't be eligible for maternity pay in a new job etc. It's nice to be finished and have one less ball to juggle.
Business
Ant's business has taken a massive turn and he now owns his own personal training facility. We had resigned ourselves to nothing happening until next year but at the end of November he went to look at a property and it was perfect. We got the keys around the second week of December and then it was all hands on deck. We spent a LOT of time getting it cleaned up, laying flooring, building equipment etc especially over Christmas. Oscar was amazing as he ended up spending a lot of time there with us but it was nice to get him involved. We officially opened a couple of weeks into January and his business is going from strength to strength - it's slow to pick up but it's definitely going in the right direction. He hired a PR company who heard about his accident and he ended up on the radio, ITV news and has just done a piece for Gym Owner Monthly magazine as their featured gym owner.
IVF
We had our appointment at the beginning of January and they basically told us that we were good to go as soon as we were ready. We have a really busy end of this year with the Dixon wedding, Oscar's birthday, Christmas etc. so we don't want a due date until next year. With that in mind we decided to defer and we are due to start injections again on 1 April. With the current coronavirus issues we are wondering whether it will get cancelled... or whether we may not be able to travel to London... but we shall see, we have another couple of weeks to see how things pan out. I'm excited but also quite nervous - realistically this is our last shot.
Self-Employment
I've finally started doing some at-home typing for a company called DICT8 in the last couple of days and it's working out to be quite lucrative - there's not always work to do but I've managed to get about three hours in over the last few evenings/naptimes and my hourly rate is averaging about 1.5x my current wage at work so that's not so bad. I'm also doing some overtime on Sunday's at work and I get an 88% enhancement so it's close to double time, which is pretty good. Just trying to get every penny we can when we can in case we need to go for another round of IVF... or if we succeed this time we need a bigger house!
Fitness
I've finally got myself back in the gym and generally been managing two sessions a week although Ant is now starting to get so busy that it's been difficult especially with commitments to overtime and Oscar's Early Support Group. I definitely feel better for it although we've all had a string of illnesses this winter.
I think that just about gets you up to date of where we are now!
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