Memphis: Part Two

Our second day in Memphis we spent at Graceland! We stayed at Elvis Presley's Heartbreak Hotel and spent the day touring Graceland and the Elvis museums. At night we went out for a birthday meal at TGI's and then spent the evening in the hotel room chilling out from such a busy and exciting day! Below are some pictures (well a lot) from our day.

Calleigh went through my make up bag!

To see what we did on our first day in Memphis you can find it here.

Memphis: Part One

This last week we took a trip to Memphis for my birthday and it was a really really good one! 

We decided to drive down as it's only 4 hours away from where we live. We left early Tuesday morning and had a steady drive, stopping a couple of times for breakfast and to let Calleigh stretch her legs. We tried to see if she would go to the restroom but she wouldn't go in public still. We had no accidents though so that was good. 

We arrived at our hotel about 1pm and were able to check in. The first night we stayed in The Westin Memphis on Beale Street. It was really, really close to everything we wanted to see there and the Fed Ex Forum and Gibson Guitar factory were literally on the door step! 

After checking in and dumping our stuff in the room we tried to get Calleigh to go to the toilet but she still wouldn't go. As it had been almost 5 hours since she last went we decided the best thing to do would be to put her in a diaper to save any accidents whilst we were out. 

We headed straight to Beale Street and took a walk down. It was really cool. Lots of music shops, restaurants and bars and I finally got to see Jerry Lee Lewis' Honky Tonk Cafe. 

After a walk we decided to stop for some food and we went to Hard Rock Cafe. I got my Hard Rock Memphis T shirt and we had a awesome burger and Calleigh also managed to give herself a black eye by falling off her chair. Luckily it faded after a short while and wasn't so bad. We headed back to the hotel to relax for a bit after all the food and then took another walk down Beale Street as there was a car show on. We stopped in Jerry Lee Lewis' and had a drink whilst Calleigh had a nap and then decided to head back to the hotel for the night as not many places will let children in at night. 

The next morning was my birthday!! Calleigh woke me up shouting Happy Birthday Momma and handed me my cards and presents. We opened them on the bed together. I got some really lovely presents and was really happy with them all and thank you to everyone who sent me a card :-) 

We then got dressed ready to head out to our next hotel- Elvis Presley's Heartbreak Hotel!!

I wore the beautiful dress Paul got me for my birthday :-) 

The party hats were mandatory! 

To see what we did on our next day at Graceland click here.

Outfit of the Month: July

Dress- Next 

Complete with an ice lolly and a sweaty head from a very humid day.

Potty Training Tips

I thought I would compile a little list of some potty training tips and tricks that we found helpful. 

Below are some that we found most useful and some from our own experience of potty training. 

First of all it's always important to ensure your child is ready for potty training. Starting too soon or when your child is not ready could result in a huge step backwards. I think this is the mistake we made the first time we tried as although Calleigh was showing signs that she was ready she just wasn't quite there yet. Once you've established that your child is ready then it's time to start. 

• If the potty isn't working for your child (if they wont sit still on it for long or seem to have no interest in it) try going straight to the toilet using a potty seat. This was the best thing we did! Going on the toilet made her feel more grown up and she was excited to go each time. Also purchase a little stool so they can get up themselves instead of you having to lift them on to it. 
• Make sure the toilet (if you are using one) is easily accessible. Leave the light on if it's a dark room so it's always on show and the door open so they can go in as they please. They may not always want to tell you about it first and if they can't get in- hello puddle on the floor.
• Invest in a few potty training books, maybe a couple of weeks before you plan on starting. Get them used to the idea of using the potty and how to do it. I found the best one I got was a Dora one as she is one of her favourite TV programs so she was really interested in the book. 
• Put together a potty training reward chart. It doesn't have to be anything fancy. I did mine the night before we started and it worked perfectly. I stuck it on the wall (at her height) just outside of the toilet so once she had done she could stick on her reward sticker. Use things like "telling mommy or daddy I needed to go", "Did a wee wee", "Did a poo poo" and "wiped my bum" and let her stick a sticker on each time she does one of those things. 
• Big celebrations are the best! I found that Calleigh responded really well to a lot of praise. When she went on the toilet I would sing and dance "You did it, you did it" and she would join in shouting "Yay, I did it". If Daddy wasn't there I was sure to let her face time him and tell him that she did it so she could get praise from him too, she is a daddy's girl after all. So yeah, celebrate your heart out!
• Don't stress the accidents. If you stress about them your child will pick up on it and that will upset them and put them off. Quite a while back now Calleigh had an accident in the bath, I freaked out a little bit and scurried around trying to get her out of the bath whilst shouting for Daddy to come and help out. Calleigh obviously picked up on it and hated going in the bath for about 3 weeks! This time if we had a little accident on the floor I just told her "don't worry, you'll get it next time and mummy will clean this up no problem" Speak softly and calmly. They may still be a little distressed but if you are calm, they will be too. 
• Respect their privacy. Calleigh usually wanted me in the toilet with her when she went but I did find that when it was a number two she was more comfortable on her own and would shout me in when she had done. 
• One last thing- don't leave wipes (the non flush able kind) in the bathroom! Calleigh had so much fun flushing a packet down the toilet and we had a lot less fun unblocking it!  

Potty Training.. In Two Days!

As I mentioned in this earlier post Calleigh is now potty trained. We had tried this before a few weeks back but had little success. This time however it too just two days and was real easy! I couldn't believe it myself, I really expected it to be much harder. Actually when I say she is potty trained, shes not but actually toilet trained.

After talking to some friends whilst out for a few drinks we mentioned that we were planning on starting potty training soon. He told us that he had both his kids potty trained in two days- something I didn't really believe straight away- I can understand one but for both of his kids in just two days seemed a little unreal. 

"How" we asked. 

He explained to us his foolproof method. It was simply to stay in the house for two days straight, don't go out, don't go anywhere for the full two days.... And leave your child completely naked the whole time (not including bedtime). I had my reservations but we decided to give it a go, after all it couldn't hurt to try. I also decided that instead of using a stand alone potty I would use a potty seat on the downstairs toilet. In our previous attempt I found that Calleigh would just not sit still on her potty and always wanted off. I thought this would be better as it would seem more like a toilet than just a seat to sit and eat your dinner on whilst watching telly. 

Well the first day came around, we picked a Thursday as she had no daycare and we didn't have anywhere to go for the whole weekend so we had plenty of time.

After breakfast I stripped her down to her birthday suit, she didn't like it at first and kept asking for the diaper back on but I didn't give in. I explained to her that we were potty training and showed her the toilet with her very own seat, stepping stool and special potty books. The night before I also put together a reward chart and told her she would get a very special sticker to put on it when she goes potty. 

I was feeling pretty good about this. That was until we had the first accident... and then the second. Hope was fading fast and I was left wondering how to get the stains out of my carpet (or the house owners carpet!). But then as I was sat down watching Calleigh play she suddenly ran off really quick. I didn't think much of it, in fact I just thought she had remembered something she wanted to play with. The I heard it, the unmistakable sound of someone on the toilet. I ran in to find Calleigh sat there with a big smile on her facing shouting "I did it!"

We celebrated by singing and dancing and then I gave her a sticker to put on her chart. She loved it and was so happy and excited. 

Finally a success, my faith had been restored. 

Turns out it was just a one off and we had two more accidents that day before we put her in a pull up ready for bed. As much as I was disappointed at least she did it once so she does know what to do and when to go. 

The next morning, once again, after breakfast I stripped Calleigh naked. Paul went off to work and I was left to help Calleigh get her head around this potty training business. 

To my surprise she said to me "Mommy, I need to go wee wee" so I took her to the toilet and she did her business no problem. I was so proud, this day was already going better than the last and it was still early. We celebrated and I let her stick another sticker on her chart. 

Not long after I saw her wander into the bathroom. I went in after her and she was sat there on the toilet. She told me that she need to go poo poo this time... And she did! Once again we celebrated and I sent a celebratory text to Daddy telling him how well she was doing. He replied with a video message congratulating her and she loved it. She would watch it over and over again saying "Thank you, thank you". 

The rest of the day went pretty much the same way, she would either tell me she needed to go or just go by herself and we had absolutely no accidents! Not one! 

As I write this now she has been toilet trained for over a week and we haven't had any accidents since that first day. 

I must admit that this has to be one of my proudest moments as a parent. The transition from diaper to toilet must be difficult for a child but she did amazingly well and in just two days!

I will be doing another post sharing some of my top tips and some things that we found really helpful and that worked for us so that is definitely worth a read if you are thinking of, or already have started potty training.