All about me, me me

The lovely Tas from Not My Year Off has tagged me in a meme. And not for the first time. I thought I should actually make an effort to blog this time.

Ten things you didn't know about me. Well, I thought about letting you into some deep dark secrets. And then I remembered my husband reads my blog!

Then I thought about what readers of my blog actually do know about me. There's the births, the breastfeeding, the lack of sleep. It's quite limited really, isn't it. So here's a quick summary of some of the obvious things about me that all my friends would tell you, but you probably don't know. Kind of controversial given that my friends don't know about my blog!

1. I used to eat tomato ketchup with EVERYthing. Salad included. I have grown out of it now. At last.

2. My parents are divorced (who's aren't?). They separated when I was 18.

3. I studied Music, French and German at A-Level.

4. I went ice skating once when I was 16. It was ok. I went ice skating for the second time when I was 23. I broke my wrist.

5. I played 'Marty' in the school production of Grease. "You know, like, as in Maraschino".

6. As a child, my favourite thing to cook was Cheese Scones.

7. I went to Manchester University. After careful consideration, I left after my first year. Just wasn't the right time/place for me.

8. I was once on BBC TV on Christmas Day. I believe it may have been the year 1998, on a programme called Choir of the Year. They did a big old close up of me! Or two.

9. I'm a bit bossy. A bit of a 'leader'.

10. I have a tattoo. That's all you need to know.

So there we have it. Hope you found that insightful. Or mildly entertaining, at least. I think all the bloggers I talk to have already been tagged... so I shall just invite you to join in and leave a link in the comments if you like.

Shit Ya Pants?

I am not cut out for this shit. Literally shit. Pant loads of the stuff.

I knew the success of potty training week was too good to be true too. We had about 10 days of excellent work. Then, at his nana's house this weekend, Felix managed to do not one poo in his pants, but four. Yes. FOUR poos in the space of five hours. Not one of them on a toilet or potty.

I thought maybe this would be a one off. Different location, lack of attention from mummy (I was cooking, not in any way relaxing or taking time off - I wish), maybe it was because there was so much going on. But it was not a one-off.

Yesterday, whilst my outspoken grandmother was visiting (more on that another time)...

Hold on, I have to pause writing, as he's now sitting on his potty doing a poo. WAHOO, YEAH!

... where was I? Ah yes, yesterday. He spent the day 'trying' to poo. That meant, standing still, clothes on, pushing. I could see he was trying so kept asking him and requesting he sit on the potty. He kept objecting to sitting on the potty. I must have taken him to the toilet 3 times during lunch alone. Well the long and short of it is, we achieved another FOUR dirty pairs of pants (not full on poos, but enough of a mess to warrant clean pants). We also had an overturned potty during lunch. What a way to treat our visitors.

On the plus side, he DID finally produce something rather spectacular on the potty at the end of the day.

Today... the exact same process. With a wet pair of pants, trousers and socks to add to the four dirty pairs of pants. "No, I not do my poopoo", "well why are you squeezing then honey?". Four more pairs of dirty pants. I've totally lost my cool about having a carefree attitude to potty accidents. I've started to demand he sit on the potty and although I haven't actually told him off, I've made subtle digs and other awful sneaky ways of making him feel like a failure. At least he finally produced.

So, who has some good tips for persuading children to sit on the potty every single time they need to TRY for a poo, even if it's not ready to come out yet? Because I reckon another day of this is going to send me over the edge.

Oh bum!

I always swore I would leave potty training until my children were absolutely ready, able to tell me they need to go, then tackle it in a week. I suppose I thought they would be ready a bit sooner. Especially as both their dad and me were out of nappies by the time we were 2 (or so we are told).

Felix turns 3 this week and despite being perfectly capable of using the potty or toilet (he's been sitting on it every day since he was 18 months old), he shows no sign of actually wanting to get rid of nappies. Not only has he taken to telling us "I not big boy", but he actively refuses to poo on the toilet. I put him on when I know he needs to go: before nap-time story, after nap-time story and nothing. As soon as I tuck him into bed and head downstairs there comes a small voice "I do my poopoo" and t'is done.

Well, I had concluded we were just going to have to bite the bullet, probably over the summer, and put him in pants. Then... the lovely Jenny Paulin from Mummy Mishaps offered me the chance to review an all-singing, all-dancing potty and I wondered if it could provide our last chance to persuade him that he really does want to be a big boy before giving him no choice.

Our Smart Rewards Potty arrived on Monday and I have to say, first impressions were fab! Putting it together was easy, one electronic connection and then slot the 'cistern' into the back of the bowl. Felix had great fun sitting down and making the 'welcome' song play. Of course, I have been singing it around the house all week... but that happens with ANYthing musical in this house.

It's been a bit of a hectic week for any serious effort to be put into potty training... what with me turning 30 and the baby running a high temperature... but we've made a bit more effort than usual to encourage toilet usage and even worn "big boy pants" on a couple of occasions.

Let me run you through the "likes" first. The four step learning system is great. The child is rewarded for sitting, then for 'making a deposit' (what a great turn of phrase), flushing, then rewarded with a sticker to chart progress. So if you're starting potty training fresh, you don't have to think about it at all. The Smart Rewards Potty will tell you exactly how to do it! Easy.

We LOVE the removable bowl. It makes disposing of the 'deposit' SO much easier than with a cumbersome normal potty. And cleaning too.

I was impressed that it came with more than one reward chart and a second roll of stickers (refills can be purchased online). Because how many parents buy a new potty when training their second child, eh? The seat can also be removed and used as a trainer seat on the real toilet. Very sensible of the designers to make it a one-stop solution.

And do you know what? It's a lot more stylish than the average potty too. I found it quite cute having a 'mini toilet' sitting in our bathroom all week. It doesn't take up anymore space but looks at home.

The negatives are few and only minor. The "parent-activated" sticker dispenser was unfortunately, not quite parent-cotrolled enough for my sticker loving child. In fact, I think pulling the roll out, releasing 10 or so stickers, was the first thing Felix did after I opened the box. And as I couldn't wind them back in (I possibly could have if I'd bothered to unscrew the cover) they got torn off and stored elsewhere.

He also found the boys deflector shield great fun for taking off and dropping in the bowl. Maybe it's only my child who's that annoying but I would have liked a better way of fixing it on so it was less easy for Felix to remove.

One final, jovial criticism. Wouldn't it be nice if you could choose an English accent version of things like this. Why are they always American? In fact, wouldn't it be good if you could choose the voice. Personally, I think Stephen Fry would make an excellent "Voice of the Potty".

Disclaimer: I was sent a Smart Rewards Potty to review free of charge, but I received no other compensation for this article. The views are my honest opinions.