Hannah has been showing some definite interest in the potty for quite some time now and it really ballooned about a month ago. We didn't really have room for a separate potty chair so we ordered a new toilet seat for our guest bathroom that has a little kids' seat built in that hides up in the lid when not in use. It's a definite space saver and Hannah doesn't mind one bit. So far she hasn't actually asked to sit on the potty, but she always wants to flush and wipe. Sometimes when we ask her if she wants to sit on the potty she does and sometimes she doesn't. We read a special potty book while she sits on the toilet and the little girl's name in the book is even Hannah which she thinks is pretty cool. We've been using a sticker chart and a stamp on her hand as an incentive to sit on the potty and the 3 times she has actually peed on the toilet we've given her two stickers and two stamps. When she fills up her chart she can cash it in for a surprise (she LOVES surprises!). One day she peed both times that I sat her on the toilet and she got so excited that she wanted to call everyone she could think of. She called Kyle twice, Mamaw, and Sarah. She wanted to call Grandpa, but there was no answer and then she changed her mind about calling Aunt Heather as I was dialing the phone. It was pretty funny to hear her singing everyone her potty song that I made up.
Sleeping at night became a real problem again and we were back to long periods of screaming and bargaining for another song or anything that would keep Kyle and I in there for longer. She was so tired all the time because she wasn't napping and wasn't sleeping very long at night. We HAD to do something different because what we've been doing for the last year and a half or so obviously wasn't working. So, I checked out a book about toddler sleep solutions from the library and read it through. We picked several things to try and started them on Sunday at bedtime. I know it's really too soon to tell if any of this is going to work given how we have been faked out before, but so far the results seem promising. She cried for only about 5 minutes Sunday night, 3 or 4 minutes for nap yesterday, 30 seconds or less Monday night, and no tears at all today at nap time and each and every day I left the room with her awake! We changed her bed routine pretty drastically and are working harder to get her in bed sooner and keep as much light as possible out of her room to help her fall asleep and not wake up too early in the morning. When she moved to her big girl bed she lost her crib music machine and her fan so she no longer had any white noise. We didn't want to have a fan running with her loose and able to stick her fingers inside it. Her CD player hasn't worked for almost 9 months, but the radio still works so I 
tuned it to static and turned it up loud. That part seems to work because she really can't seem to hear us with it on when we are walking around the house. We also started closing and latching the top part of her dutch door to keep out sound, sights, and light. In the beginning that really made her angry, but she doesn't seem to mind now. I've got some drapes ordered for her room so that as it stays lighter and lighter outside at night we will be able to make her room as dark as possible at bedtime. She has a blackout shade, but a lot of light sneaks in past it through the edges of the window. The drapes should fix that problem since they will extend well past her window frame. We swapped her singing and reading order at night. Now we sing first while cuddling in her chair and then move to her bed and let her choose 3 books to read before bed. She REALLY likes this part. Then we sit on her bed while she lays on her pillow and read to her. Today after reading for her nap she didn't even try to get out of her bed until I was well out of her room. This is a HUGE change. Now she did get out of her bed eventually because I heard her reading later. I do wonder where I'll find her when she wakes up. She's been getting awfully fond of napping in that rocking chair! But, I don't think I
mind it too much if she actually does nap.
tuned it to static and turned it up loud. That part seems to work because she really can't seem to hear us with it on when we are walking around the house. We also started closing and latching the top part of her dutch door to keep out sound, sights, and light. In the beginning that really made her angry, but she doesn't seem to mind now. I've got some drapes ordered for her room so that as it stays lighter and lighter outside at night we will be able to make her room as dark as possible at bedtime. She has a blackout shade, but a lot of light sneaks in past it through the edges of the window. The drapes should fix that problem since they will extend well past her window frame. We swapped her singing and reading order at night. Now we sing first while cuddling in her chair and then move to her bed and let her choose 3 books to read before bed. She REALLY likes this part. Then we sit on her bed while she lays on her pillow and read to her. Today after reading for her nap she didn't even try to get out of her bed until I was well out of her room. This is a HUGE change. Now she did get out of her bed eventually because I heard her reading later. I do wonder where I'll find her when she wakes up. She's been getting awfully fond of napping in that rocking chair! But, I don't think I
mind it too much if she actually does nap. Hannah has been craving things to learn lately and I have been finding it really hard to satiate her desires. So, I decided something had to be done about that too or we were both going to go crazy. A friend of mine pointed me towards a preschool curriculum designed for kids who are home schooled for ages 2-4. I checked it out and it was great. She has EVERYTHING you could imagine on her website and it's all free. I got everything organized and we started yesterday. Hannah is loving it and is already obsessed with it. She wants to DO SCHOOL all the time. The first thing she asked about when she woke up this morning was school! I think it's going to work out really well for her (and me too). She'll get some structured, but fun learning time, we'll get to spend some quality time together, and I get to get my teaching fix without actually having to go back to work! Everybody wins!
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