They had an exhibit of fossil finds in our state, including R.O.U.S.'s. No kidding. Read the sign, haha.
Hannah rode "Morla" (My name, not the zoo's), and Ellie got scared to death of the otters. In the first picture, she hasn't see one yet. The second one is the one I snapped right before I realized she was screaming like a banshee.
For non-animal fun, they had a giant chessboard, and a splash pad for the littles! I'm really excited about this place. We'll probably go back next week, maybe with the cousins.
In potty training world, things are going pretty well. Now that I've done this early training bit twice, I have a few observations that seem to have been a constant between both girls:
1.) "3-day training" is a misnomer. It's more like a 3-day kick-start. By the end of the first day, both my girls had developed a signal that cued me to take them to the bathroom. By the 3rd day with Ellie we had caught a couple of pees, a poop, and minimized accidents. By the end of the 3rd day with Hannah, we had just learned to avoid accidents, but not actually gone in the potty. Progress to consistent holding and releasing takes a lot more time than that.
2.) If you want your kid to be able to remove himself from normal activities and come and alert you he needs to go, early training isn't the way. Little ones do give signals (mine have both patted themselves while making eye contact), but that doesn't always mean they're going to go to the bathroom if taken to the potty, and if you aren't paying attention, they'll give up really quickly and just have an accident instead. So Constant Vigilance is crucial, and it lasts like that for a few months. If you can't/don't want to spend that much time watching a baby who is minimally verbal, don't early train.
Mr. Myth and I take turns being on "baby watch" for those first few weeks. It's really easy right now because he's home all day every day so there's not so much stress on me.
3.) Sitting on the little potty really doesn't happen, because they can stand right back up instead of waiting a bit to actually go. The potty chair I got has a detachable seat that fits on the big toilet, so I have sat both of the girls on the big potty where they can't get down. This is an advantage over big kid training, because your big kid can get off the big potty too. Ellie typically holds it until a meal or snack time, so I've found myself feeding her finger foods while she sits on the big potty, and then once she's peed she goes to her high chair. Whatever it takes to keep her happy long enough to go.
Now that we're a little over a week in, she's getting quicker about going pee pee in a timely manner, and soon it will be automatic. Hannah peed on command almost immediately after she figured out how to go on purpose, and that wasn't until about 3 weeks in, so I'm hopeful it won't take too long this time either.
4.) Outings aren't really that scary. I put a diaper or a puppy pad (incontinence pad) under the bottom in the car seat for a while (a month or two) and keep the bottom bare on outings too. I bring the potty seat with me. It does make shopping a pain for a bit, because I take her to the potty when we first get there, any time she signals, and again before we leave, but it's worth it in the long run.
5.) Naps and Bedtime are still diapered until the girls are waking dry on their own. Sleep wetting is more physiologic/ developmental than trained, and I don't consider cessation of night wetting to be a potty training goal.
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