Eagle River Toddler Activities

I made this printable to keep track of all the local activities available to keep Harper busy this winter.

Eagle River Toddler Activities Printable

Potty Training

God help me, we started potty training this weekend. Turns out, potty training sucks.. even when it's going pretty well.

We bought Harper a little Minnie Mouse potty months ago and we talk about it, and going potty, often.  I had big plans of having her potty trained by the time we left for Hawaii in early November, Harper was 20 months at the time but it was still going to be a long shot.  We decided it wasn't something we wanted to deal with on vacation - even if she was trained by then. Emergency potty trips during a beach day or long car ride sounded terrible *just keeping it real*, so we decided to wait. Our new plan was to start after the 1st of the year when things finally settled down and we were back in our normal routine. So here we are.. having a go at it. 

Potty Training Chart

  I've read quite a few articles/blog posts on the topic and most seem to have a common thread.. bribery. Not something I'm opposed to. Normally I'm pretty good about not giving Harper sugary treats and she only gets milk or water - our house is a juice free zone, but we pulled out all the stops this weekend. We kicked everything off by making a special trip to the store for all our supplies. Harper got to pick out her own new big girl panties, fruit snacks, cookies, stickers and yes, even juice. As soon as we got home it was game on. The diaper came off and so did the gloves..

So excited about her Palace Pets stickers

I found the cutest potty training chart on Pinterest. Harper loves stickers but I didn't know if the chart would get her as excited as the treats would.  Every time she used the toilet she got to pick out a sticker to put on her progress chart. She LOVED it. For awhile I didn't even need to give her a fruit snack or cookie, the stickers we're rocking her world.

more juice? I'll do anything you want woman

Harper got as much "juice" as her little heart desired for two days (it was like 75% water but she was none the wiser). I wanted her to have to pee often so we could get as much potty time in as possible. It worked like a charm and soon enough she was peeing as often as her Aunt Kaylee ;)

Inspecting her new panties | suns out buns out

Harp spent 90% of the weekend free-balling it. I was worried the panties would feel too much like a diaper and she'd pee in them without even thinking about it. Toward the end, when she got the hang of it I put them on her and man oh man, is her little tush adorable in them. 

Trying to climb up and steal her reward treats

We had a few accidents - all "pee pee" related *thank god* but overall it went really well. She's excited to use the toilet

Our Little Gymnast

Harper had her first "Parent and Me" class at Arctic Gymnastics this week. To say she loved it would be a gross understatement. She was running around screaming with joy, like a total wild child. The class is for ages 0-3, and they really let the kids have free reign as they take them to multiple areas of the gym. Harper's favorite was the bar and she swung around on it like the little monkey she is.

 

The kiddos also got to explore the foam pit, which I think was a favorite for most. You could tell their little minds were going a million miles a minute when they realized they were being encouraged to jump and flip into it. A couple of the little boys were going bananas.  Harp loved getting thrown in.. and my favorite part was when she'd turn around, reach her little arms up and say "mama, hep meeee!!!" so I would hoist her back out. 

In true Harper form, at the end of class she was running around singing while everyone else was sitting nicely in a circle. I think it's safe to say I'll be chasing her around the rest of my life.

This is going to be a hilarious.. I can't wait to see what she'll do next in the next class.