Confession of a Stay at Home Dad: Chapter III
Tuesday, February 10 2009 00:00
Right around the time I came home from the college we found out that we were having another girl. It was becoming old hat to me—being a dad to little girls. Actually, I would have been more anxious if I found out it we were having a little boy. Although the doctor said that it appeared as if we were having another girl, they weren’t 100% sure. So, we started preparing the baby’s room with generic colors like yellow and pale green. We collected our baby clothes, and bottles from our storage bins and purchased some unisex outfits just in case we did have a boy. I wondered if it was a conspiracy. Would the doctor give parents a vague answer about the baby’s sex just to boost sales in unisex baby items? Did they make a percentage off of the year’s receipts? I had to focus. I had to get the #3’s room ready—oh, and take care of our second little girl.
From January until March I was home full-time with our middle child Madeleine. I never had an opportunity to be home full-time with her up until now and looking back I do regret not having that opportunity. Madeleine was very different than Bella and only when you are around a child all the time to you begin to appreciate those differences fully. Mady wasn’t a snuggler, she was quiet and strong willed but the more time I spent with her the more she began to open-up. I remember during this few month span that she finally decided to snuggle on the couch and watch a kid show with me. She was two and a half and seemed to finally be warming up to the world—I loved it. I was talking to her a lot about being a big sister and what that meant. I remember Bella cherishing the responsibility of being a big sister to Madeleine but Mady was not nearly as emotional as Bella—it was a tougher sell. As the months went by, I was more and more curious to see how she would react to having a baby sister. I was very curious to see how Mady would respond to the big change. Would this be tough on her? Would she relish being a big sister?
Besides teaching Mady what it meant to be a big sister, I also wanted to see if I could get her out of diapers before #3 was in the picture. It was an aggressive goal. Maybe I was flying too close to the sun with diaperless wings or maybe I was starting too soon with the potty training, but whatever it was clearly Mady struggled at first. There was pee all over the place. Puddles here and there, on the carpet on the tile, on the hardwood—no surface was off limits. How do you stop a 25 pound peeing machine? Gates. Lots of gates. I sectioned off part of our kitchen area that had easy to clean vinyl flooring and in that space we spent much of our time. There was a TV, a computer and enough room for her potty. After the shaky start Mady started to get better as did I. I became more in tune with her pee schedule. I knew just when to ask Mady to use the potty and she would go. We were clicking. She was on track to be potty trained six months earlier than her big sister which is braggable. If it wasn’t for an early delivery she may have very been out of diapers when the baby came.
Remember, Stop by Every Monday for a New Installment
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written by (F)reddy, February 10, 2009
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written by Laura21230, February 11, 2009
The use of the utterly unique toilet/sink combination (everything empties on the tracks below and you can actually watch the toilet open and see the ground moving beneath you as the toilet flushes) in our sleeper compartment so fascinated Emily that she used it every single time. We used a borrowed potty and training pants during our two week visit with my parents and she did quite well, with only occasional accidents.
By the time we returned home, traveling in the same manner, she was completely potty trained. Then began the investigation period. We had to visit the bathroom of every building we entered. We examined plumbing fixtures in the mall, gas stations, Dad's office, friend's homes, etc. etc.
I write this mostly in jest, train travel with a sleeper compartment is far too expensive to utilize strictly as a potty training tool. It was merely coincidence that we were traveling in this manner at potty training time and I lucked out.
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