Potty Training - Not such a glamourous title is it?

The whole truth about potty training is indeed not glamourous. There are some potties whereby your kid would do his/her business on & then you throw it into the toilet bowl. Something like what Kate Gosselin used for her children.

I didn't wanna have to clean that potty. :( Sorry. I can hear some mothers fuming now. ;) Anyway, I used the toy'R'us little girl/boy toilet, bought steps for them to be able to get up there & be able to do it independently.

It took me a full week. I know some mothers did it in a day. Or 3 days. But ya, I'm not a super mom. I had 7 full days.

While there are many ways to train your kids, I went with slowly letting my daughter see what I do at the toilet. Ok, if you count that, then that's two weeks! I basically explained to her what I am doing & why I do it there. Showed her the routine & end it with the flush ( she somehow enjoys the flushing for some weird reason)

After a week of that, I slowly asked her about the idea of not using diaper. Started with half day of no diaper. She didn't understand controlling her bladder concept. I said "tell me when you wanna pee". And she told me when she was actually peeing!

There I was wiping her puddle golden shower! ;) There hasn't been BIG accident - thank god!

From half a day, she began to like the idea of no diaper. She asked for full day of no diaper. I allowed her to do so. Sometimes, I suggested we go to the toilet for her to pee. She did it & got herself a chocolate. If she doesn't pee, I would tell her that the next time she pees there, she will get one. So one is waiting for her.

Slowly...very slowly, she was grasping the concept of "getting the chocolate" -yup, not really the potty training part! Sometimes, when she remembers she would wailed out, and we would rush her to the toilet, have her pee successfully on the toilet, and she gets her chocolate.

Whenever she forgot about the reward, the accident would happen. Yes, it happened so many times, it's too easy just to give up & just stuck a diaper on her. Especially when I also have a one year old to run after. EXHAUSTION is the key word here. But I didn't give up.

Somehow, the number of times of her running to me announcing (to the world - yes she was that loud) that she wanted to pee slowly became more than the accidents. Eventually, it didn't happen anymore. We (My husband & I) celebrated it -well, maybe we just wanted to open that bottle of champagne so bad!  ;)

Today, she only wears diapers when she is sleeping. Fair enough. I thought since she is not aware yet while she is sleeping, that can be another step.

Another reason to pop the bottle open! ;)

Jon & Kate Plus 8

Have you heard of them? I might have stumbled on their show 5 years ago and actually got hooked to it. I find it amazing how they could raise all 8 children and I was impressed by Kate Gosselin, the way she handled the situation.

Over time, she changed. And now that I have 2 children of my own, I can understand the stress and why she became the way she was. I'm going crazy with 2 kids sometimes - imagine 8!! So I do watched in awe & wonder what I would have done if it was me.

Typically, marriage is a blissful thing. Then babies start to change the normal routine & with all honesty, the lack of sleep & the stress of having the bundle of joy can be taxing on the most loving couple.

I once watched a movie....THE STORY OF US. It started with Bruce Willis & Michelle Pfeiffer sitting in front of a mediator trying to talk about their marriage. The movie started to unveil about how they met, how they fell in love...way before the children were involved.

Then they showed how children came into their lives & their priorities & attention were channelled differently. It wasn't just about the couple. There are other individuals whom you are responsible for!

I once shared that video to my best friend. I told her that it's normal that over time, love would "graduate" to a different level. Hopefully there graduation is mutual & therefore we grow old together. Only then the fairy tale ending of "Happily Ever After" can be mentioned.

However, there are undeniably high rate of divorce happening everywhere in the world. Women are getting too strong minded and they know what they want, how they want it & when they want it.

While the "graduation" should be seen as a natural process of life, many men would whine and complain that their wives are not paying attention to them anymore, etc, etc.

That creates resentment and then to disagreements, misunderstandings, arguments .....

What happened to Kate & Jon is the same thing. The stress of raising all those joyful soul can be taxing on them. While Kate was trying to make sure that everything went according to routine, Jon preferred to just assimilate into her schedule.

Over time, we can see the stress on Kate's shoulders & Jon became her punching bag. It will always be Jon's fault for everything. When you really think about it, that's only because Jon is the closest person to whom she felt most comfortable with.

As much as I prayed that they didn't split up (Which we all know they did), I eventually do feel like Kate did become a bit too harsh as time passes. Yes I agree that it was taxing to take care of 8. But she may have taken Jon for granted.

You can only push someone to their limit before they exploded. It took Jon 5 long years. Which was amazing. He stuck to the kids for those exhausting time till when the kids understood what the word DIVORCE means.

This Jon & Kate issue was down and out..... I only thought about it again recently. My daughter was looking thru some children videos and one of them was their kids singing Christmas Carol.

When my daughter went to sleep, I got curious to what really happened to them since I lost interest in watching their show after the tabloid started about one scandal after another.

I YouTube some interviews post the break up & I watched the explanation and the confessions. Jon did go berserk for a while. But he eventually calmed down and now he is in a happy place.

One thing he said is true. There are so many people out there who have many children too, and they do not have reality show & they survive. Life will definitely has a way of working out for them too.

While Kate is begging the media to take her up on a TV project, it became a little apparent that Kate may have been addicted to the limelight and just refused to shy away gracefully.

I tried sitting down to watch Kate Plus 8 and I lasted 3 minutes top! It was a show too full of herself. I couldn’t make myself watch further.

While I wish the kids well - it was fun watching the kids grow. It really was. I even secretly have favourites! :) - I do hope that Jon & Kate somehow manage the situation to make it less awkward for them to be around one or the other.

All the best. Meanwhile for all of us with kids growing up in front of our very eyes, we are still in the test of time. Who knows what tomorrow will bring.

Maybe even more joy & love than we already have.....