The Great Potty-Training Experiment of 2010

Dear Amy,

We are fast approaching potty-training ground zero here in Wisconsin. D is now 29 months old and he’s expressing interest in the potty. With Michelle’s five kids, your six, Dayna’s five and David’s 2, I have heard countless horror stories. I’m scared….REALLY. SCARED. I’m trying an approach that has garnished rave reviews online. It’s called “Three Day Potty Training” by Lora Jensen. You can find it here. I realize that you and my other siblings are skeptical at best regarding whether or not I can potty train D in 3 days…over a weekend, for example. But I am taking a deep breath, standing tall and going for it.

The method is pretty straight forward and has some elements to it that really ring true with me. I can’t go into details here since she sells the method in the form of an ebook and it’s all proprietary. In preparation for the big weekend, I did some research into potties and decided to get a traditional toddler potty that can double as a stepstool to the toilet as well as a toddler urinal. I may regret the urinal, but with two boys to work with for the next few years, this seemed like a good move. Plus, the more I read online, the more convinced I was that this was a good route to go.

As part of the 3-day method, Jensen recommends having 20-30 pairs of underwear on hand. Um, hello…I had no idea toddler underwear was so pricey! CRAZY PRICEY! So, I did a little research and found a fabulous free pattern for toddler underwear online here. You’ll see on the top of that same page there is a link to toddler boxers. Are you kidding me? Toddler boxers? CUTE! So, I’m digging into my stack of retired t-shirts to make D’s new big boy underwear. I’m kind of excited to make them for him actually. Is that silly?

Jensen also recommends you have several sheets on hand for naptime and overnight accidents. D is in a toddler bed and we only have two sheets for crib mattresses. Again, they’re not cheap. So, I found a pattern online for crib sheets here. When we upgraded from a full-size mattress to a queen, I kept all of our old sheets. People think I’m crazy, but old sheets can be used to make a HUGE variety of other things. (Pajama pants are especially yummy made of old, soft sheets.) I’ll be using some of those old sheets to make new crib sheets.

Okay, so far, I’ve saved about $150 in underwear and sheets alone. But that’s not all…this is beginning to sound like one of those early morning infomercials where they keep saying, “But that’s not all! Order now and we’ll throw in a second set of knives for only $3!” Smile.

Jensen also recommends using wipes by the potty for the first little time because wiping with toilet paper can be tough at first. She makes a point of saying that these should not be baby wipes because your toddler is making the transition into being a big boy or big girl. Okay, so wipes…toddler wipes (insert eye roll here) are also expensive…and dumb. I found instructions here and here on how to make your own. Eric is still in diapers, so I think I’ll be making all of my own baby wipes from now on.

I’m pretty excited about all of my great information finds online. Thanks, Internet. You rock.

Love, Kate

Tutorial: Jean top Skirt

Kate,
I finally finished a little skirt for E. She loves it. It twirls a little and she has a hard time standing still when she wears it. She loves to twirl! I took some jeans of hers that were a bit short and had a hole in the knee and this is how I reused them. I used the basics from this website.
It was very easy and turned out cute. I did let her pick the fabric, so it is very E.

First cut off jean top just below the zipper...make sure you leave enough room for a seam. I did cut off part of the back pockets, but I pulled up the inside of the front pockets so those weren't affected.
Then I cut the length of the fabric I wanted for the first tier...make sure it is at least twice as long as the jean width so you have enough to gather. I then gathered and attached it.


Continue to do that for the next layers making sure you increase the width of fabric for each tier so it is at least twice that of the previous layer. I then hemmed the bottom and top stitched each layer... that's it!



Very simple and fun for summer.
Enjoy your day!
Amy

Tutorial Review: Finished Bunnies and Their Wardrobe

Dear Amy,

Happy Easter (just one day late…)! I hope you had a wonderful weekend and a peaceful and joy-filled Easter holiday. We had a very nice weekend packed with a trip to the zoo, a drive through the countryside and spending some much-needed time outside. The weather is warming up here and I could not be more thrilled. BRING IT ON!

I finished the bunnies for the boys Easter baskets. You can find the free pattern online here. I made a couple of changes to the pattern, namely I added elbows and knees and a changed the feet.

The elbows and knees were easy. Simply stop mid-limb while stuffing and sew across the limb and then continue to stuff. I changed the feet to a more gradual slope from the leg to the ankle to the foot to make the bunnies easier to dress. I felt like the foot shooting out at a 90-degree angle made it hard to get the pants on.

The boys are so into dressing and undressing their dolls now (focus on the undressing), so I made some clothes to go along with them. Yes, I realize that the clothes do not “match” in any sense of the word. But I was using up fabric scraps and they are really cute! I think I’ll add more clothes as time allows. They sew up so quickly! Here’s the link to the free pattern and tutorial for the pants and shirt.

The bunnies are gender neutral, so they also got a dress (worn with pants in the photo for a more funky vibe). You can find the dress pattern and tutorial here. D helped with the styling for the photo.

 

As you can see, this bunny has unfinished ears. I love the fuzzy look it gives. I lieu of the tied pants as shown in the pattern, I added an elastic waist using 1/4” elastic. So easy! Yes, the bunny does need to lose some weight around the middle so that the pants fit better!

It took all of D’s self control not to grab the bunnies as I was trying to take photos. As he prefers all dolls without clothes in our house (the easier to change their “poop” as he says), he couldn’t handle seeing the bunnies lying there fully dressed. Needless to say, the bunnies are now properly naked and well cared for.

Happy Easter a day late!

Love, Kate

p.s. The food revolution starts tomorrow! EEEEEKK!

Tutorial Review: Toddler Sleeping Bag

Dear Amy,

Happy April! It’s getting warmer here,but not quite warm enough. So, we spent Tuesday night at a nearby resort with a huge indoor water park…a little spring break vacation to get us ready for upcoming summer trips. We only stayed one  night, but we had a wonderful time. The boys loved it. The water park was a huge hit. Eric, age 1, was fearless and his 2-year-old brother, D, was much less so.

This was a bit of a test run for our big road trip to Utah this summer. I’m so excited! Last year, we were somewhat nervous to make the drive as brand new parents with an infant and a one-year-old. But the sheer volume of necessary baby gear was far more overwhelming than the actual drive. We had such a fun time! I’m looking forward to the trip this summer even more. The boys are a little older now and I can only imagine that travel with a two-year-old and a very alert one-year-old will be much more…um…exciting.

I’ve started to get a few things ready for our road trip. I’m nothing if not a super planner. I found a great tutorial for a toddler sleeping bag on Ruffles and Stuff. I got the basic idea from Disney on her blog, but I tweaked the concept quite a bit.

I used a shower curtain from IKEA for the exterior fabric and a soft flannel I already had for the interior. I used four layers of batting as she suggested. I measured D and determined finished dimensions of 50” wide (when laid flat) and 39” long for the sleeping bag. I wanted it to be big enough for him to move around, but not big enough for him to get lost in.

As you can see, I did use a zipper. I found a 34” parka zipper at Joann’s on sale for $1.49. Joann’s has an awesome variety of zippers. They even have 100” sleeping bag zippers. I had never seen those before. You could easily use one of those to go down the side and around the bottom and simply cut it and sew across it a few times as a stopper. I went with the parka zipper and used it down one side. I sewed the bottom shut.

I left about five inches from the top of the zipper and the top of the sleeping bag so that I could easily pull it back and so that he would have more air when he buries his head. He tends to snuggle down when he sleeps. So sweet.

Anyway, I basically finished the top with a binding, like you would for a quilt, but I machine-sewed it. After a washing, the sleeping bag really fluffed up.

Our overnighter at the resort was a good test drive for D and his new sleeping bag. He was so excited to try it out. He slept soundly and long. I’m ecstatic. Not having to lug two portable cribs into every hotel seemed a distant dream…

NO. LONGER.

Yeah! Eric’s is almost finished. He’s much more mobile and quite a bit sassier than D. I’m not sure a sleeping bag will work for him. He may not stay put. But, it is almost finished and we’ll give it a test run here at home. Wish me luck!

What do you think, Internet…where do your toddlers sleep on road trips?

Love, Kate

Tutorial: Holey Knees Make the Perfect Boy’s Shorts

Dear Amy,

So yes, another pair of D’s pants has bitten the dust. The boy plays so hard! These were especially tragic for me to lose. I LOVED these pants. I bought them off eBay…Mini Boden brand, a little baggy, SO CUTE!

Inevitably, D’s hectic play schedule has claimed this casualty. Sad. Fortunately, though, this particular pair of pants lends itself perfectly to becoming a cutesy pair of summer shorts. Hooray! Big smiles! I neglected to take a “before” picture of said pants (due to my crazy excitement to complete the transformation), but you get the idea from this picture.

The pants just happened to have a conveniently located seam mid-leg. I cut directly below that seam to remove the legs. I then machine sewed two patches on…one on each leg, large enough to cover the holes and thinning fabric.

I wanted some STRONG patches, so I used home decor-weight fabric and double layered it. I love the look of the unfinished, frayed edges, so I left them unfinished.

I simply sewed around the edges of the patch and then sewed in an X pattern across the center to keep it securely in place. D loves his new shorts and this mama is delighted not to lose one of her favorite pairs of D’s pants. Saved the pants and re-used scrap fabric. Now that’s what I call success. Bring on the summer sun…we’re ready!

Love, Kate

p.s. Here are some projects I’m working on that I can’t wait to tell you about: toddler sleeping bags for the boys, road trip activities for toddlers, spring/summer wreath reusing old t-shirts, clothes for the Easter bunnies, and a fabulous blanket for Eric made from recycled sweatshirts.

Pattern Review: Super Cute Bunny for the Kiddies

Dear Amy,

Good morning! So, this is our first Easter with the boys. I’m so excited. Remember how much fun we used to have as kids searching for our baskets? We couldn’t look for eggs until we’d found our basket. Mom and Dad always included such fun things in our baskets.

In sticking with our determination not to BUY, BUY, BUY, I’ve been pondering different things to include in the boys’ Easter baskets. The Internet is full of free patterns for those who know how to find them. One of my favorite sites for free sewing and knitting patterns and tips is Purl Bee, the blog for the store Purl Soho in New York. I. LOVE. THEM.

I’m making the Purl Rabbit for each of the boys for Easter this year. The lovely folks at Purl Soho also included free patterns for clothes for said rabbits. There’s also a dress pattern for Ms. Rabbit. So sweet!

I used a lightweight quilting cotton I had on hand for the body. It’s a pale green with white dots. Love it! I used a [plain brown embroidery thread, three strand, for the face.

If you look closely, you can still see the pale markings of the pencil I used to outline the face before I stitched it. I used a curved needle, which I would HIGHLY recommend when sewing faces on stuffed animals and dolls. It makes it so much easier.

I made two changes to the pattern. First, I sewed the ears on prior to sewing the body front and back together, instead of hand sewing them on after stuffing the body. Two, I added a line of stitching for knees in each leg. This makes the rabbit sit better. On my second rabbit, I think I’ll add elbows, too.

LOVED making this adorable woodland creature. It took about an hour and a half from start to finish…not bad at all. The boys are at ages where they love to dress and undress things, so the clothes are next on my list.

Have a great day! We’re headed out to enjoy the sunshine!

Love, Kate

Tutorial: Save those Kid's Pants with Patches!

Dear Amy,
Good morning! I hope you had a wonderful weekend. We enjoyed the sunny (but chilly) days bundled up and playing outside. We had our first fire in the chiminea over the weekend. We played and went on walks and dreamed of summer.

Contrary to what most of our townsfolk were wearing last week when it reached 60 degrees, it’s still not warm enough for shorts (and/or tube tops, people. Take note!). I mean, come on. It’s March…in Wisconsin…they don’t call it the frozen tundra for nothing.

So, it’s still long pants for us. DeAngelo own three pairs of jeans—all hand-me-downs. (Thanks, friends and family!) Over the past month, two of the three pairs have sprouted vents…directly over the heavy play area—his knees. I hate to buy him new pairs now because he’s smack dab in the middle of a growth spurt. That sent me looking for other options. Enter THE PATCH.
 

I am not a fan of store-bought patches. I hate the look of them and they never seem to stay on anyway. So, I had to get creative.



I searched through my scrap fabric and found some decorator-weight fabric by the lovely Anna Marie Horner left over from some previous project. There are three patches in all.



I used the blanket stitch to attach two of them and a simple straight stitch to attach the other one. I did a simple straight in an X across the center of all three.

 
DeAngelo loves them. I don’t know if they’ll stay put. I don’t know how long they’ll last. I’m just keeping my fingers crossed that they last a few months until I can convert these jeans into shorts. I’ll keep you posted.

Love, Kate