Saturday, March 1, 2014

Potty Training: Get Ready

In the previous post , I talked about finding out when to start potty training. Once you decide that both you and your child are ready, it is time to prepare for it.





Be ready to be:
Flexible
You might have a well-thought-out plan, but things take a very different route. My plan was to totally ditch the diapers (except for nighttime) and use underwear without looking back. Also, I decided to use training pants. Also, I was planning to stay home until Salma is potty trained for the most part before we go places. We were doing great following the plan. But after three days, Salma had fever and cough that I was concerned about. We had to go to the doctor's office and since she wasn't ready yet, I had to put her in a diaper. Couple days later, I got sick too and I could keep up with the effort needed for the potty training. So I decided we are going back to using diapers. I struggled a lot taking this decision. I din't want to give up my well-thought-out plan. But keeping in mind that I have to be flexible and choose what's best for Salma and I, I chose not to go on with my plan while we were sick to make things easier and less exhausting. We ended up using the diapers for another two weeks since Salma had a diarrhea.

Surprised
It might take longer or shorter than you expect. I was a little bit sad when we had to use diapers after we started potty training, but Salma surprised me that she was asking to use the potty even though she had her diaper on. So for the whole time we used the diapers, she was using the potty exclusively. I was very proud of her and still :)

Calm
There will be accidents and the best way to handle them is to be calm, be ready with your cleaning supplies and talk to your child about it calmly but ....We didn't have a lot of pee accidents but for the first few days, I had to clean a fair amount of poop accident, something that I hope I don't have to do ever again.

body link .



Ending

Tuesday, February 11, 2014

To Potty or Not To Potty!

So you want to potty train your child but you are a little confused and maybe overwhelmed? I had the same problem so I did the homework, maybe too well! In this post (and more to come), I’m sharing what I found, and what I experienced with Salma.


First comes the most important (and most confusing) question; when to start potty training? There is no certain age. It is all about your child’s readiness. To accomplish this developmental milestone, the child needs to have signs of physical, behavioral and cognitive readiness.

Physical signs
Developing the muscle control is key for an easier potty training on your child. Look for the following signs:
- being dry for 2 hours or after nap.
- having regular bowel movement.

Behavioral signs
- Being aware of bowel movement by squatting, sitting quietly or telling you.
- Being uncomfortable with a dirty diaper.
- Showing interest in the toilet, the potty or underwear.
- Showing some independence and interest in doing things by himself.
- Being cooperative and not always answering with the magnificent “NO”.

Cognitive signs
- Being able to communicate with you to express his need to go.
- Being able to follow simple instructions.

Having these readiness signs in mind, you can take a few steps to help your child become ready and raise his interest in using the potty:
- Put a potty in his room or play area, talk about it and let him try it.
- Take him with you when you use the toilet, talk about what you are doing.
- Dump stool from his diaper in the toilet and let him flush it down.
- Get him books and DVDs about using the potty. Read and watch together.
- Let him choose a few pairs of underwear with his favorite colors and characters. Tell him he can wear them when he is ready to use the potty.

Another thing to consider is your own readiness. I found that focusing on your child's training for a few days works best. To achieve that: find a time with no traveling, no guests, no major family plans or changes. Take care of any urgent household tasks before you start. And plan easy dinners for the days of training. That way, you can focus your time and energy on the training without stressing yourself out.

One last thought, you may experience social pressure from people thinking you are starting too early or you are waiting too long. You may also find different age ranges for potty training in books or online. But it is better to follow your instinct and your child’s clues. If you both are ready for potty training, it will be a shorter and more enjoyable experience with no power struggles.

Once you've decided your child is ready for potty training, you will be wondering how to start and what tools you need. I will be talking about that next post.

Tuesday, January 21, 2014

My Parenting Goals for 2014

In my previous post, I didn’t talk about my parenting goals. So today’s post is all about that.

Well, kids develop amazingly in so many ways. And, as a parent, my goal is to facilitate my daughter’s development and provide her the opportunity to bloom.

I have one goal that focuses on me as a parent; that’s reading and learning about positive parenting. The other goals are milestones for Salma in four categories:

Religious
- Know and love God.
- Learn basic concepts of Islam.

Social and Emotional
- Become more independent.
- Become responsible and help with simple chores at home.
- Listen to instructions and work with others through joining a group class (e.g. swimming, dancing….etc).

Cognitive
- Engage in more pretend play.
- Learn about language, math, science….etc.
- Join preschool in Fall 2014.

Physical
- Use the potty.
- Improve gross motor skills:
  • Climbing the stairs alternating feet.
  • Throwing and catching ball.
  • Riding a bicycle with training wheels.
- Improve fine motor skills:
  • Buttoning, zipping and cutting.
  • Drawing basic shapes, tracing and writing.

Last but not least, the ultimate goal is to have fun while doing that, and create wonderful memories as a family. I pray for a great year for my family, and yours too :)

Saturday, January 11, 2014

Goals of an Aspiring Mom for 2014

New year's goals, resolutions .....etc. It is the hottest topic these days. So, here are mine :)

But first, I'd like to say that it doesn't really matter whether it is January, March or even December. If you feel like setting goals and working on them, then just do it. Some of my goals have been around for a few months and some are new. And whenever I am done with one goal, I may add another.... so wish me luck....

Now lets talk about my goals. I have them in eight categories:




Religion
Become a better Muslimah. By better muslimah I mean extending my daily and weekly routine of prayers, supplications, gratitude journal, Qur'an recitation and Islamic studies.

Health
Lose weight and improve my fitness. I don't have a detailed plan yet, but I will figure out soon.

Take care of my health issues (Migraine and Carpal Tunnel Syndrome). I will educate myself on both conditions, start a health journal and follow my treatment plan for real.

Personal
Get my driver's license. I have been working on that very slowly, but I am almost done. So hopefully I will check it off my list this Spring.

Publish 2-3 posts per month. Starting this blog has been in my mind for a while now, so finally getting to do it is really exciting (and scary).

Family
Learn about Islam as a family. Waleed and I study some topics together. And we talk with Salma about Islam in our family time.

Have a weekly meeting with Waleed. It is a good communication channel to discuss important things to our family.

Have a weekly family time (with both Waleed and Salma). Despite our busy schedule, we will make the time to have some family fun

Have a monthly date night. We will have to be creative about this goal since we don't have any babysitting arrangements yet.

Parenting
With so much to say in this category, I will be talking about it in a separate post.

Household
Have a daily routine. Nothing fancy. Just having regular bed and meal times will bring order to our day.

Get the house really organized. I need to go through quite a few spaces in my house to purge, sort and establish new systems.

Move to a new apartment. By the end of this summer, we will move to a bigger apartment.

Finances
Set a budget and stick to it. We will use the cash envelopes system to help us stay on budget.

Extended Family and Friends
Visit our family in Egypt next winter. Because we last visited in Spring 2013.

Update my address book. I am a little bit outdated when it comes to phone numbers and addresses, so I will get everybody's current information.

Okay, we are finally done... I know... I know... it is a lot....but I will not be working on all these at the same time. It is just a road map to help making progress over time.

Now, I'd love to know about your goals…..what do you have in mind that you want to achieve?

Wednesday, January 1, 2014

What is "Life R&D" about?

Let me introduce myself: my name is Amany. I am a 28-year-old stay-at-home wife and mom. In 2007, I got my bachelor degree in Computer Engineering and started working as a software developer. In 2008, I got married and since then I have been a stay-at-home wife. I used to live in Egypt, my home country. In 2010, I moved to the United States with my husband, Waleed, so that he can pursue a PhD in Computer Science. A few months later, we had our first and only daughter, Salma, the joy of our life.

Being a stay-at-home wife and mom is a 24/7 job that requires passion and dedication. While on the "job", I come across various situations that suggest researching and developing solutions. I found that the knowledge and experience gained along the way might be worth writing about and sharing with others.

Some of the topics that I may write about are parenting, house management, cooking, organization projects, travel experiences, and healthy lifestyle; just about everything in my life :)

I'd love to know your experiences as well. So please leave me comments and contact me with your feedback.