Potty Training!

Warning: this may be too much information for some of you...but we don't want to forget this momentous occasion :)

We started potty training over a long weekend in January. To be honest Scott and I were dreading it and were hoping she would just wake up one day and use the potty. But when she started holding it all day refusing to use her diaper and only pretending to go in the potty thus only going in her sleep, we knew we had to make an effort and at least try. We talked to friends and family, read a couple of books, and just decided on a few things that we thought would work with Addi. We bought lots of panties, blue m&ms, snacks, juice/water, and stickers.

Day 1, Saturday January 14. We talked with Addi about what it meant to use the potty and told her that she wasn't going to wear a diaper but big-girl panties. We also got her doll, Baby Eli, into panties and ready for her potty. Our first step was to teach Eli and have Addi help us. Eli will actually wet herself so we figured this would work. We pulled her small potty into the living room and talked about Eli needing to go potty. Then she went and we got really excited, showed Addi what happened, and gave Eli an m&m and sticker for her potty chart. Addi wanted an m&m and sticker, but we explained that Eli got those because she went pee-pee in the potty. So Addi sat on the potty and then asked for her m&m and sticker. Since she didn't actually go, she didn't get the rewards. In the mean time we filled Addi with lots of water with juice mixed in. Eli went a couple more times and Addi finally went...on the floor. So we explained what had happened and that she only got the sticker and m&m if she went IN the potty. After another accident a different spot on the floor, I was beginning to think she didn't really understand what was happening. We explained it again...showed her again...repeated the process. Finally, after a morning of this, I was thinking she wasn't ready when she finally went in the potty! Scott and I were elated (I never thought I would be that excited about someone going to the bathroom!)! So we continued to fill her with fluids and kept taking her to the potty every 10-15 minutes. By the late afternoon she had only had one accident and that was because friends had come over and she became distracted.

Day 2, Sunday, January 15. The next morning Addi started out by using the potty and going diaper free (except sleeping). We still kept it in the living room so she would go every 20 minutes or so. She did well and didn't have any accidents that morning. Then we decided to see if we could wait longer than 20 minutes and have her tell us she was ready and that didn't work. Two accidents that afternoon.

Day 3, Monday, January 16. We had the day off for MLKJr. Day so we met friends at the playground. This was our first day out and about in panties so I was pretty nervous. I took the seat and a few other essentials in a backpack and we headed out. She did great and even told me she had to go when she was up on the slide, but she didn't make it to the bathroom. We moved the potty from the living room to the bathroom and she wasn't as interested in going if she was busy.

Day 4 and Beyond. Addi did great at school and didn't have any accidents. And when we travelled home for Michelle's baby shower she stayed dry the entire way home. We put a diaper on her for half of the trip since she was napping but didn't need too. She did not like the regular sized toilets that automatically flushed (and still doesn't!) so I try to warn her of the flushing ahead of time. I had to bring the little potty with us and she used it. Once we got to SC, things turned for the worse. She completely regressed back to day 1 only using it occasionally and having more accidents than not. Once we got back in FL, she was fine. She still wouldn't use the big potty except at school. By the time we went back to SC the first weekend in February she was using the large toilet most of the time. While we travelled, she used her seat on the big toilet and I brought Clorox wipes and wiped it down. I always have to go first. She will usually go after I go. But once again while we were in SC, she regressed back and had a lot of accidents. When we got back in FL, she had several accidents that Sunday but was back to no accidents once she went back to school. Since she was only pee-peeing in the potty, we went back to teaching Eli to use the potty for everything. We also read the book Everyone Poops pretty often. Addi got really excited each time Eli used the potty (while I was moving, I had run across a gag-gift that was my Grandpa's when he was alive so Eli actually had something to show Addi when she went potty), but she still refused to use it herself for all of her bathroom needs. Finally, the week I started my job in SC she decided to use it all the time. She uses both the little potty and the big potty, but we don't care which one she uses.

So here we are a month later and things are looking good. She still has accidents and although we don't have to ask her all the time, we do remind her if it has been a while or if we are out. It is still hard to get her to go when we travel or if there is an automatic flushing toilet. She still wears a diaper during naptime and bedtime, but often wakes up dry at naptime. Not sure if she will regress when we move to SC in a couple of weeks, although she loves the small toilets at her new preschool (she went 9 times in 1.5 hours when we visited the school). It is still a work in progress and there were moments when we wanted to throw in the towel, but we stuck with it and are glad we did.