20 Months

Since Laura was about 13 months, I have been trying to potty train her. At the time, she was always very constipated so when she was about to have a bowel movement, she would hunch over, give a gutteral moan and I would whisk her up and plop her on her potty. I would make it maybe 30% of the time. Most of the time, I would be too late. Then she went through a phase where she was pretty regular and I wouldn't know that she had a poo until the smell wafted through to my nostrils.
So I nixed the idea for a while but now decided that I would try to start this month since she seemed to have more understanding.

I was chatting with different people about how to approach this. One woman told me that in the morning, I should put Laura on the potty and pour lukewarm water slowly down her pubic area so that it "simulates peeing". I did that a few times and Laura would just look at me and giggle. Then, during the course of some day, she would pick up the plastic cup and pretend to pour it down her crotch. I thought maybe child services would start ringing my doorbell, plus it wasn't working so I abandoned this method.
A nurse friend of mine told me to try putting Laura on the potty right after she woke up and put her hand in a bowl of lukewarm water. WOW! Did this work marvelously. I did this about 2 to 3 times and Laura "got it". During the course of the month, she even surprised me and would say "Mommy, doo doo". I would just peel all the clothes off her, let her run around naked and she would sit herself on her potty and take a nice big dump as well.

Mind you, if she was distracted by a tv show or activity, she would go and THEN let me know she went "doo doo". She still has not caught on that she needs to tell me when she pees. At this point, she'll say "mommy, pee pee" but it's AFTER she has taken a pee. Whenever I remember, I just take off her pants and she voids whatever she has left in her bladder.

June has not been so great. Still lots of rain with only a week or so of respite where it has been hot. We are still going through more rain. Because of this, Laura's "reactive airway disease" (I don't want to call it asthma b/c that sounds so permanent) has been acting up. We were giving her round the clock albuterol neb treatments as well as pulmicort. I pray that this is temporary.

On one of the nicer days, I took Laura for a walk around the block. I had her bring a small pail and while we were walking, I had her pick up little rocks, twigs, pick flowers, etc. On our walk, we found a caterpiller and she was thrilled. She kept poking it lightly and squealing b/c it would move. I freed it on some bushes while she wasn't looking and came home. That night, we were reading one of her books and we came upon a caterpiller picture and all of a sudden, I saw the lightbulb go off. It was pretty amazing. She would keep coming back to that page. Then she made it known that she wanted to go downstairs. We got to the hall and she went to the pale full or rocks and stuff and pointed to it "tabilla". I said, "oh, caterpillar went bye bye".

Sometimes, I look at Laura and I think that she is all her father. Other times, she will turn a certain way and I can see myself in her. When she eats, however, I know she has definitely acquired some of my genes. She loves seaweed with rice. I can hide things in it and she'll eat it. The true test was when I gave her a bowl of rice with water, seaweed and pan fried spam. She was in heaven. The only thing I forgot was the kimchi!

Look at this girl with her chopsticks!

June 17th
Pool party at my friends. It was a gorgeous day. The water was freezing cold but once you got in, it was very refreshing. I brought Laura's float and she loved it. It was getting late and colder but she still wanted to stay in and at one point, did not want to put her clothes back on when I tried to change her out of her bathing suit.Her little friend, Jack, showed up and she was happy about that. The only problem is that she is beginning to become much more possessive. Jack's father put him in the pool and at this point it was freezing outside as well. I gave them Laura's float and she had a total meltdown!



Laura is starting to form many more words and phrases. When I run the garbage disposal, she says "stop it". If she drops something on the floor she says "i drop it" or "i got it". Her new favorite word is "mine". I am trying to teach her to share and to not grab things. It is proving to be a challenge.
The other day, we went to the park and met up with her buddy, Thomas. Thomas' father had to leave and his mother was on her way so I babysat at the park. It started getting cloudy so I took them into the car where I fed them some snacks. I gave Thomas a small bag of Life cereal. When his mother came to pick him up, he proceeded to spill the whole bag all over the seat and the floor. Now, every time Laura gets into the car and sees all the crumbs on the floor she says "Ahmi, mess".