The first time we wrote this post, we decided it was not going to be a how-to on potty training. Instead, we wanted to share our different approaches and normalize the experience for parents. While going to the bathroom is obviously easy for adults, having the patience to coach your child through potty training is a whole different story, wrought with frustration and a lot of Clorox.
So now, two years later, we are on to Round Two.
We all seek autonomy, including toddlers.
Around 10 months of age, infants begin to realize that they have free will and can refuse parental requests and demands, and that includes food. Thus, we give you the rise of the picky eater.
Pick Your Eater
It’s worth noting that picky eating behavior is normal for toddlers since they are beginning to learn their likes/dislikes and how to advocate for themselves. These new eating habits can be stressful, especially if you’re worried that your child isn’t eating enough as they grow. Typically, a toddler can tolerate at least 20 different food items across the different food groups.
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From the weather to why we brush our teeth, it’s almost like they can’t help themselves. It’s been covered in TV episodes and in cartoons. You can picture it even now. An exasperated parent being followed by a super-inquisitive toddler, relentlessly asking “why”.
Research reveals that kids ask around 40,000 questions between 2-4 years of age. Similar studies also found that some 4-year-olds ask about 200-300 questions DAILY. As taxing as their inquiries can be for us as parents, it’s a good thing! Questions and curiosity are good indicators of social and cognitive development.
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A couple weeks ago, my toddlers where downstairs in their playroom. We were just hanging out after snack, and my daughter Aeris decided to play with a set of Leapfrog building blocks, similar to Duplo.
Aeris is much more independent compared to her sister, and is very focused on what she wants to do with her toys. In this case, she wanted to take all the single blocks and build one tall, skinny tower.
She had about four blocks left when her tower started to bow and snap. She tried reassembling it but once it got too tall, it wouldn’t stay upright. She is only about 3′ tall, and she could not keep a hand on the tower and attach the last few blocks to the top at the same time.
I could see her frustration every time the tower fell. She was getting red in the face, she was slamming down blocks trying to get them to fasten tighter, and she was refusing to let her sister help her. More importantly, she hated that her vision of what she wanted to do wasn’t working.
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Mary and I had planned on sharing our potty-training stories over a year ago. We had two very different situations, but didn’t want to write about them until we had successfully got our kids trained.
Fast forward one year, we think we finally have some things to share.
Disclaimer: This is not a how-to potty train post. This is simply our two stories and some weird (yet common) things we ran into in the process.
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Child(ish) Advice 