Our daughter turned 2 in January and we put her through some pretty big changes at the same time. It was a month full of wins as a parent, which can feel few and far between. Our little lady showed her resilience through all that she went through this last month and I am one proud momma. From changing up our bedtime routine to the big girl potty and more, she constantly amazes me with her adaptability. This post contains what worked for our family when it came to these major milestones and I hope it can help another parent in their journey.
At the end of 2021, our daughter’s 2nd birthday was approaching, so I began to think about the milestones we would be hitting in the next year. A few of the major ones on our list include; weaning completely from breastfeeding, potty training, joining a gym with a daycare and expanding our family. There are a lot of things that could push our daughter out of her comfort zone within each of these milestones but she has always proven to be a resilient little lady so I was excited to dive right in.
KidsWorld
We began the year by joining a local gym that includes 2 hours of daily childcare so momma could get in more solo time. I love working out at home and showing my daughter what it takes to stay strong and to commit to a healthy lifestyle. But, as she gained independence, my workouts became a juggling act with keeping up with her. Our home gym was set up in the garage and it worked out great for a long time but as the weather cooled down and little miss was more interested in the “no-no” items in the garage, I tried moving my workouts inside. That caused a whole new set of problems; from more distractions for little miss, our “needy” dog always hovering around me and the limited space for all of my routines, I knew it was time for a change. It has been a blessing to get in to the gym and fully focus on my fitness journey with a lot less distraction and a little me time. I have found I am much happier the rest of the day with a lot more patience for the lovely “testy twos” we are currently going through.
As for our daughter, this was a new experience for her as she had never been left in a daycare setting before. The first day, she cried for 20 minutes before they called me to come pick her up. I got in a small run and left feeling defeated that this would be harder than imagined. She lasted a little longer the next few days. By the next week, she was doing great and only asked about me a few times but would get distracted by something fun to play with. After a month of 5 day a week trips, she is a pro and barely says bye to me before heading in to play. We have our weekly routine in place and I have been enjoying pushing myself a little harder with my workouts in the process.
Breastfeeding
Another large milestone we crossed in January was an end to our breastfeeding journey. For two years, we had a shared experience that created a lasting bond for us. But, it was time for us to move on. I started with the bedtime routine nursing sessions since my husband was home to help settle her down with me. She was not a fan of the change for the first few nights but quickly caught on that we were going to be skipping that before bed now. Since that was successful, I dropped the nap time nursing session after a few days as well. That was a bit more of a challenge and Little Miss yelled for “daddy” most days but, she eventually calmed down and fell asleep. I will cherish the journey we had for two years and I am thankful for the lessons I learned through the ups and downs of breastfeeding.
Potty Training
We Accomplished Potty Training!! Little Lady started showing interest in the “potty” around 18 months so I introduced a toddler potty for her to get used to. She would usually sit on it fully clothed but loved removing her diaper to sit as well. There was the occasional pee but nothing super routine. I didn’t try to push it, instead, letting her mimic us. After a couple of months, we went diaper free for a weekend and, although the accidents were minimal, it didn’t feel like the right time. Instead of continuing, we took a break during holiday travel but allowed her to sit on potty’s whenever she asked.
After the success of daycare and weaning, we felt like she was ready to tackle the potty again. We jumped in while at home for a weekend and we decided to put her in undies right away. I feel like this helped her catch on more quickly because she didn’t like the feeling of wet undies. I recommend having lot’s of undies on hand if you plan to do the same. She had a few accidents those first two days but we made sure to ask her if she needed to go every once in a while (sometimes that was in 30 minute increments and sometimes we pushed it to an hour, never longer). We had an outing to Costco and she made it through great with no accidents but we pushed it by stopping at the grocery store too.
Our plan for dealing with accidents was to keep it fuss free since she seemed to grasp the fact that it wasn’t a great feeling to have wet undies. The test came Monday when we returned to the gym and she went to the daycare for a few hours. She did have one accident but they said she went to the restroom a few times as well. By that Thursday, she was down to one accident a day (with a few of the instances occurring during naps). Friday of that first week was her first full day with zero accidents and we praised her with high fives, lots of motivating talk and big hugs as we put her in her nighttime diaper.
After a few months, she stopped having accidents during naps but we are sticking with diapers at bedtime since that is a long time for a tiny bladder to wait. I know I have to get up to go the bathroom at night on occasion so why would a toddler be any different. Since she is still in a crib, there is no way for her to get to the potty overnight.
Those are quite a few Big Changes for a Little Lady. We didn’t expect to jump into them all right now but, as we look to expand our family, it felt like a good start. Little Miss is such a big helper with so many things that it seemed fitting for her to be able to handle a few extra “Big Girl” experiences.
Whole Health Momma 