Pee Pee in the Potty!

You all know that I was not about to force my child to potty train before she was ready.  I know her.  I know myself.  I know how much of a disaster that would be!  I was fine to wait it out until 3, or to start any time before that if she showed signs of readiness.  Well, over the last two weeks she decided that she was ready.

She literally went from running/hiding/crying over diaper changes to telling us that she was peeing and then immediately requesting a diaper change.  She also started wanting to come in the bathroom each time I went.  She took an interest in flushing the toilet as well.  I knew that if she was telling me when she was going and then requesting diaper changes, that I needed to act on those signs and not put it off.

There have been multiple people in my "June" mom's group that have used the 3 day method by Lora Jensen with great success.  I potty trained Little Man in 3 days, but there was really no certain method I used.  I figured I should read up and see what this method was all about.  She's a little over the top, so I took the info that I wanted to use and disregarded the things I didn't care for (like throwing out all of our diapers... say what?! Um, no!)

My problem was coming up with 3 consecutive days to do it.  I gathered all of my supplies and we started on Saturday.   We had been talking about it a lot ahead of time.  She was excited about her new Minnie and Rapunzel underwear.

Basically the method is all about positive reinforcement and putting the responsibility on the child instead of making it a power struggle.  So you load them up with fluid, more so than normal and even use juice if necessary, so that they are forced to go often to get the feeling of needing to pee.  You tell them that they need to tell you when they need to go instead of asking "do you need to?".  You also do random checks when you know they are dry and then praise them for staying dry.  If they start to have an accident, you run them to the potty.  Little fuss is made about the accident.  You just make a comment about that being yucky and that we need to stay dry and tell mommy or daddy when it is time to go.

On Saturday she had quite a few accidents, but she was definitely learning and aware of the feeling of needing to go.  She'd recognize what was going on, but it was always just a little bit too late.

She had some accidents on Sunday as well, but they were definitely less.  Then by mid afternoon she went three times in a row without having an accident!  Each time SHE told US she had to go.  I can't tell you how nice it was to not have to ask over and over if she had to go or to take her every half hour and just make her sit.  I did that with Little Man and it really did turn into a power struggle.  This way was so much nicer!

Monday was day 3.  She did pretty good.  She only had one accident.  The only bad thing is that she sometimes tells us she has to go when she doesn't.  Even so, that is better than accidents every where.  She gets 2 skittles every time she pees! :)

Yesterday (day 4) she didn't have any pee accidents.  I did take a shower and when I came down the stairs she was standing in front of her potty and yelled "I have to poop!"  She had started to go, but only a little.  She finished in the potty.  That was our first poop in the potty and she was so proud!  Plus, she got 5 skittles!

Knock on wood, I think we got this!  The only thing is, I need her to be able to pull her own pants down.  Unfortunately, strength in her arms is literally her biggest "weakness", so this isn't going well.  We are going to keep working on it.

She wears a diaper at night.  She is in bed over 12 hours and NEVER wakes up dry.  EVER.  I am not even going to attempt to try to night train her weeks (days?) before I have a baby.

She also wears a pull up for nap.  I did this because this is the time she usually poops.  She doesn't even know how to open her door yet (thankfully!).  If I put her in there in underwear, I am pretty sure I would be setting myself up for a lot of messy work.  No thank you!  I tried to call them her special "Dora rest time underwear".  On the second day she turned to me and said, "Mommy.  They are Dora diapers."  No fooling her!

She prefers to use her little duck potty.  We haven't tried to go in public yet. Even though she sits on the big potty with a smaller seat (pictured), she has yet to go on that potty.  So we still have work to do.  But after reading that other people were having 17 to 25 accidents A DAY, I am feeling pretty stinking good!  Hopefully bringing Logan home won't ruin all of our work.  We told her that he needs her diapers. I think she'll do alright.  It's the getting the pants down that I am worried about.  Oh well.  We'll face that challenge when we get there.