Toilet Training

After rave reviews of Lora Jensen's 3 Day Potty Training from a couple of workmates, we decided to conduct a Toilet Training "Boot Camp" based on the 3-day method.  Like most the country, we both took the Friday off following Australia Day which allowed us four days for our boot camp.

On the first day, Geekling enthusiastically threw away all his nappies and donned one of his many pairs of new undies.  We told him he must try very hard to keep his undies dry and to let us know if he needed to do a wee or poo.  He knows both of these bodily functions, and had been able to tell us for a while when he had done one so we were sure he was ready.  We allowed him to have as much liquid as he liked, and encouraged him to eat lots of high-liquid foods like juice icey-poles, home made fruit sorbet, fresh watermelon, fresh apple and yoghurt as well as some tinned fruit to keep his stools soft.

Disaster struck however, when we made it to the potty for his first wee - it is a musical potty and the loud music it played to indicate his new achievement scared the little guy, so much that he refused to go near the potty again even after we'd turned the musical feature off.  So we decided to use the toilet instead with one of those under-the-seat inserts we had.  Even so, he'd burst into tears every time as we rushed him to the toilet during each wee.  Just before his afternoon nap, his Grandma visited and bought a step and seat contraption she uses at her house for the other grandchildren, and emboldened by a visit from his Grandma, Geekling successfully used the new seat.

So the following three days involved near-constant reminders to tell us when he needed to go to the toilet (rather than asking if he needed to), asking if his underwear was dry, telling him how grown up he looked in his undies and how proud we were of him.  Because we had thrown out his nappies, we were keeping him in undies for naps and night sleeps too.

There were many accidents - most of them Geekling would tell us he needed to go, but without enough time to get him to the toilet.  On day one there were over 30.  On day two there were around 20.  Day three had about 15 and day four had 8.  The number of accidents was decreasing, he was going longer and longer between wees which were higher in volume each time.  Still, the rushing to the toilet and the clean ups were exhausting, and hubby and I grew short tempered with one another at times.  We were not sure how Geekling would go at day care on the Monday but did not want to send along any nappies after "throwing them away" and going without for 4 whole days.

We needn't have worried.  His daycare were very supportive and had no limit on the number of accidents he has.  I checked in at 10:30am on his first day back (day five) and he'd had one accident.  That accident was his only accident all day.  Today (day six) he hasn't had a single accident.  He can tell us he needs to go with enough notice to get to the toilet, remove his pants and climb up himself and will do his business then announce "finished!" he's done.  He loves to wash his hands and dry them.

And its really hit me now - our baby isn't a baby anymore.  He's a little boy.

Adults only - homemade Irish Cream Liqueur

This is a bit of a departure from my usual kid-centric posts, but its still homemade and after bed time I do like an adult drink.  So I recently made a batch of home made Bailey's - like Irish Liqueur.  Its delicious!

I used this recipe from the Cupcake Project, but a quick google will yield plenty of similar results.  Depending on how expensive Irish Whiskey is where you live, this recipe might not save you a lot of money but as we had a litre bottle of Jamesons sitting in our cabinet, I only had to buy the sweetened condensed milk and cream.

The batch came to about 800ml (I poured it into an empty 1L Spiced Coffee Absolut bottle) It should last 2 months in the fridge, but I think mine will last about a week.

My friend makes an amazing cherry liqueur at home and I intend to swap her a bottle of this for a bottle of her cherry liqueur.  Then I may experiment with cocktails that combine the two.  Yum!

Insta-snow sensory tub

Geekling has never seen snow, having lived only in the tropics.  I've only seen it on the ground when we travelled to Russia in Winter, it was hard and dirty.  I've still yet to see fresh snow falling.

This was such a fun tub, although very messy!  Next time we play with it, we'll set it up outside I think.  I am hoping to let the insta-snow dry out and reuse it, next time with ice cold water, and perhaps coloured water.

Excuse the poor lighting.

Melbourne Zoo

Hubby, Geekling and I took a trip to Melbourne over Christmas - New Years.  We visited lots of family and friends, went to our favourite restaurants and souvlaki place and of course went to a few tourist spots like the Queen Vic Markets, The Museum and the Royal Melbourne Zoo.  I have been dreaming of taking Geekling to the zoo since I was still pregnant!  I love Melbourne Zoo, and have so many memories of visiting with my family as a young girl.

Watching the bear

Geekling loved the animals (the ones he could see easily, nocturnal, distant or otherwise hiding animals were not interesting to him) but was not such a fan of the walking between exhibits.  By the end of the day we were all a bit weary of constantly picking him up, putting him down to walk, putting him in the stroller (which we took knowing how much walking would be involved).

Mummy and baby elephants in the feeding pen

I think it was especially valuable for Geekling to see the giraffes and elephants and get some idea of the scale of these large animals, something that isn't as obvious in books or in film.

Geekling loved the giraffe

Taggie Owl Rattles

I made these taggie owl rattles for my two new nephews and our friend's new baby for Christmas using the pattern from  Dolls and Daydreams.  Each has is made from scraps of fabric I had at home, and features double seams and two bells in the head which jingle well even though surrounded by polyfill.  My hand stitching at the bottom leaves a lot to be desired, but overall I am happy with them.

 Hoot hoot!

GoMA "Obliteration Room" and "We Miss You Magic Land" exhibits

GoMA has a couple of fantastic kids exhibits on at the moment, and best of all they are FREE!

First we saw "The Obliteration Room" by Yayoi Kusama - a home environment painted bright white, with children and adults given a sheet of coloured circle stickers and invited to place them wherever they wished.

 "Stick!"

The exhibit included a working piano!

You can see more of the dramatic transformation here.

The "We Miss You Magic Land!" exhibit was adorable but a bit 'old' for Geekling, as it was quite detailed and delicate, and he wasn't allowed to touch it.

 One of the scenes

Geekling did enjoy the computer program - you can create an online scene like the ones in the exhibit, including photographs of yourself as a character in it.

What Geekling loved most about this exhibit was jumping on the big pillows and on his daddy.

These exhibits are on until 12 March 2012.