babyurbeautiful

One of the most frustrating parts of potty training? Regression.

After weeks of ablutions (army slang, blame my dad) in the correct places, nap time followed by awakening with bone dry pants. So it's extremely frustrating to take ten steps forwards and eleven steps back.

My little one, Albie, now 3, had been in pants for weeks, I was really proud of his progress, despite various setbacks.
But as a whole we'd got some great teamwork going on.

Me: Need a wee, Albs?
Him: Yup

Every day at pre-school he's absolutely fine, and regularly toiletted  - so no problems there.

Cue this month.

Happily immersed in his new mini Thomas motorised train set, I asked him a few times if he needed a wee.

Me: Need a wee, Albs?
Him: Nope (hopping from left to right foot)

I watched the pattern of him grabbing his 'ding' (his bits) and hopping from one leg to the other, so the 'nope' clearly contradicted the answer.
I ensured the potty was right by his feet ready for the deluge, and carried on with dinner.
Generally if someone tells me no, they're ok - I'll take their word for it.

Two minutes later, I heard a huge howl, and a familiar tinkling noise. His earlier statement was fallacious.

Albie was obviously overwhelmed and ashamed by his accident on my very expensive cow hide rug (can I just point out this has now had pen, vomit, poo, urine and a variety of food items all over it) and he was in tears.

I won't deny, I felt really peed off (scuse the pun) and Usain bolted with the closest kitchen roll to mop up the what seemed to be the never ending pool of urine.

There are multiple reasons a child may regress:

Addition of a new brother or sister to the family
A urinary tract infection
Stress or anxiety
An abrupt change in routine
Starting at daycare
Being teased or disciplined for an accident at daycare
Having an unpleasant experience using the toilet
Any other major life change

Take into consideration any of the above points, I won't bore you to tears with the culprit to ours (no 7, if you must know and please refer back to our other potty training posts).

Although this time, I'd like to think Albie was just so absorbed with his trains he just simply didn't want to miss out on anything.

The Huggies® website recommend going back to basics as the best way to overcome a period of regression.
If you team with plenty of support and praise when appropriate, revert to your earlier routine of regular potty use and marking progress together on a reward chart.
Remind your little one to go to the potty when they're busy playing and look out for signs that they need a wee.
If the accidents go on for more than a few days, or if it's upsetting your child, going back to Huggies® Pull-Ups® for a while can also help.


Don't give up, there are always set backs, keep encouraging and praising your little one. Then when you're back on track, make the night shift the next hurdle....

*This post is sponsored by Huggies*

I love my Kindle. It’s one of the originals so it’s pretty old by modern tech standards (it still uses buttons instead of touch screen!) but it does everything I need it to do. And in fact I would go so far as to say that the user experience is much better than a tablet as you can operate it with one hand. Perfect for commuting or you know, drinking tea.

But I also love a good tablet and when I got the chance to try a Kindle Fire I couldn’t turn it down.
I think the Kindle Fire’s best feature is its simplicity. Or maybe it’s price – at only £49.99 for 8GB this is a great value piece of kit. But really, it’s just super easy to use.

Setting up is a cinch. It takes you through each step with clear instructions – language, WIFI connection, Amazon account linking etc. Then on the home screen you just scroll down to see all your apps. No swiping 5 times to get to the right page or complicated menus.

The Amazon apps are shown separately, but you can also access each service – video, books, games and shopping by swiping left. All the data from my Amazon Prime account was visible and I can choose which items I want to download.  Of course this tablet is ideal for Prime users but is still pretty handy with a regular account too.

Of course as a mum, parental controls are important. At the moment I can limit usage by simply taking the tablet away without too much trouble and the kids are only interested in watching Netflix on it anyway. But as they get older it will become essential. Luckily setting up limits for usage, filters for the internet and content and usage monitoring is again, super simple. You can set up unique profiles for each child and even one for the man child in your life if you have one.

I like the app store, it has quite a lot of content, although probably some of the more business related apps won’t be in there as these tend to get developed for iOS and Android. However the Fire OS was originally an Android system so I’m sure where there’s a will there’s a way. There are lots of free apps and games though, which is great and less need for in-app/game purchasing.

Overall this tablet is great. But what of the most important aspect – the reading experience? Well I had just started reading the 5th Outlander book – The Fiery Cross – on my other Kindle. I was pleasantly surprised to find that after downloading it into my book store, it opened to the page I had left off from. I still maintain that touch screen is rubbish for reading one-handed. Unless perhaps you have big hands. And due to the nature of the screen reading in sunlight obviously isn’t as good. But overall it’s a pretty decent reading experience.

My mum is an avid reader and I bought her one of these for her recent birthday. I was worried she wouldn’t use it much as at 60+ she doesn’t get on that well with new technologies. However she was really pleased with it and is always phoning me excited about the new book she has downloaded or TV show she has watched.

So if you’re looking for a Christmas gift this is a sound buy – even for people who already own a tablet.