When Mikayla was a baby we took a picture next to a green giraffe (which has now been named Gertrude) and have continued to do so periodically throughout her life.  Here are some growth shots to see how much she has changed in the last three years!

Birth

Year One

Year 2

Year 3

And just for reference here is a picture of her growth chart.

Ben’s finger is showing how tall she was when we got to Africa and the banana leaves above the three are how tall she is now.  She has grown almost three inches since July!  Crazy!

I was catching up on some blogs the other day and saw a really fun idea, but sadly I can’t remember where it came from.  It is a blog for a mom of a preschooler and she was saying how she is a terrible at scrapbooking (enter me)!  So instead of doing a traditional scrapbook, every so often she would interview her child.  She would type out the questions and answers and place on a fancy paper to put in a scrapbook later.  I thought this sounded fun, but decided to put a different twist on it.  I am going to try to interview Mikayla and capture it on video.  Here is our first attempt…I think she did fairly well.

I hesitate to even mention this on the blog (or in person really) because I am afraid we will jinx ourselves, but here we go anyway.  Mikayla pretty much potty trained herself a year ago.  In the fall we introduced the potty and potty seat.  We would occasionally sit her on the potty when we knew she would be going to the bathroom and every once in awhile she would go.   We didn’t force it or really try to potty train her at this time though.  Right before we were leaving on our Christmas travel time she decided it was time to use the potty for real.  And she never looked back!  She had very few accidents and even approached us to use the potty instead of us asking her over and over again.  Let me reiterate, that she did this all on her own.  We just stepped in and played the parent role when she made the decision. 

Flash forward several months (around spring or early summer time) and she decided she would stay dry at nap time.  We never forced the issue, but one day she consistently started staying dry.  We rewarded her every step of the way with cheers of encouragement or small rewards like a piece of candy (i.e. gummy bear).  I am telling you, this kid will do anything for a piece of candy.  Even something as small as a Skittle.  Wonder where that comes from?

Flash forward again to present time and I do believe we have conquered night time training.  Do I think she will continue to have an accident every once in awhile?  Sure.  Do I think she is a champ for choosing to stay dry constantly?  Absolutely!  For the last week and a half (and maybe longer) she has woken up dry after bedtime.  She has even worn underwear to bed the last three nights!  Can we get a big "hip hip hooray" for Mikayla?  She is so cute when she wakes up because the first thing she says is, "I’m dry.  The front and the back!"

To all you parents out there attempting potty training let me just offer a few words of encouragement.  The most important piece of wisdom I could pass along is that your child will potty train when they are ready.  A lot of parents told me this when Mikayla was a baby and I never believed them, but this is so true!  I have a few friends who have tried to push the issue before their child was ready and it completely back fired on them.  They were frustrated, their kids were frustrated and there were messes everywhere.  Children are pretty smart and they know when they are ready.  Do introduce them to the potty, don’t just sit around and wait for them to discover it on their own.  In our house we have always had an open door policy (when we don’t have company over of course).  So Mikayla has always been accustomed to seeing us use the bathroom.  When we started introducing it to her she was like "no big deal, I’ve got this thing under control!"  When you introduce the potty be sure to make it fun, not a chore and you will more than likely have more success.  I have a friend who has a "Potty Power" cheer they do each time their daughter uses the potty.  Simple and to the point, but really motivating for their child.  Another thing we did, that helped Mikayla’s friends more than it helped us, was we allowed her friends (keep in mind they were 1 at the time) watch her use the potty.  Lylah thought this was the greatest thing and when her mommy introduced the potty she would use Mikayla as an example to motivate her. 

I think it is safe to say that Mikayla is (knock on wood) officially and fully potty trained!  Good job baby girl!

This photo has nothing to do with potty training, but I wanted to include a picture.  This is from last weekend when we went hiking.