Potty Training (My Advice in BOLD)
Mood:  a-ok
Now Playing: Noggin
Topic: Potty Training

On Monday, December 1st, my daughter was taking a bath, then all of a sudden I heard her voice getting closer to me, so I thought, "Oh great, she got out and now she's walking around the house".  Then she started saying, "I went pee pee!"  So I'm like, "WHERE!!??" Thinking she peed on the floor.  She said, "I show you!"  So she walks me to the bathroom and points at the toilet. "I pee pee in the potty!" 

She has peed in the potty before when I was there with her, but not consistantly... just every once in a while I would sit her on her little potty just for the heck of it... but I was never really "potty training".

I thought this was a HUGE sign that she was ready.  She did it without me involved at all.  So on Wednesday I put her in panties, put her potty in the hallway closer to the play room, and kept reminding her that she's wearing panties, not a diaper, so she HAS to use the potty.  That first day we went through 4 pairs of panties.  They're training panties, so they are very thick, and it really wasn't a big deal to clean up.

So Thursday, December 4th, was her second day. She had one accident in the morning.  When she went to play outside, I put the potty outside so it would be right there if she needed to use it... and she did.

I put a pull up on her when she took her nap.  Then after her nap she had panties around 2:30. She stayed in those without an accident for the rest of the day! (Until her bath at 9pm)  I even risked going out with her in panties.  She used the potty right before we went to Rite Aid. I was about to put a pull up on her, but I gave her a choice and she wanted to wear panties.

While we were in Rite Aid I kept reminding her that she's wearing panties and told her that there's a potty in the store.  When we went past the bathroom in the store, I showed it to her and she said, "No thank you.  My potty at home."  Hehe... she stayed dry the whole time and we were at the store for an hour.  Then when we got home she went straight to her potty and peed... yaaaaay!

If you are a parent, when your child goes pee in the potty it's the most exciting thing in the world. LOL.  It's the best.

So it's a week later... we took the weekend off potty training because we weren't home much, but when we were home she always wanted to pee in the potty after I would take her diaper off to change it.

She is amazing me... it's been so easy and she all of a sudden completely gets it and doesn't even want to pee in her pull up.  At first she would pee in her pull up if she was wearing one and I didn't remind her to use the potty... but now, if she accidently pees in her pull up she doesn't like it and she immediately goes to the potty to try to correct the situation. 

She's really smart... yeah... she is already using "I have to go potty" as an excuse to not take her nap.  She's been getting out of her crib at nap time and I'll just find her sitting on her potty (which is currently in the hallway).  When I look at her and she knows she's in trouble for getting out of her crib, she says, "I had to go potty."  YEAH.  So I can't exactly get her in trouble for doing something that I have been encouraging her to do, can I?  SMART.

She has even reminded ME that she needs to use the potty, so I'm not so concerned any more about reminding her... and it's only been one week (and on day 2 she went to the store in panties!)   On day 6 (not counting the weekend because we took a break) she took a nap in panties, only because she fell asleep in the car and I didn't want to wake her up to put a pull up on, so I just put her in her crib in panties.  I was nervous about it, but she woke up completely dry!

I'm just so excited that she's so into it. 

My advice: (for those of you with boys, do NOT put them in a dress, haha).  I originally posted this in a "Princess Potty Training" group, so please don't be offended that it's mostly talking about girls. Most tips apply to boys too!  Except they might show signs that they are ready a little later than girls.

Every once in a while put them on the potty (I started occasionally sitting her on it when she was 18 months just so she knows what it is), then wait until they are showing signs of interest, which in my opinion is going to be between 24-30 months, don't stress yourself by starting too early. Once they do, put them in training panties (the thick cotton panties) and have them wear dresses for 3-4 days, (check progress and if they are doing well after that go for wearing pants).  When your daughter feels the pee go down her leg, she wont like it, it itches and it's uncomfortable... I noticed a huge improvement after my daughter experienced that and complained about it... I explained that if she pees in her panties again it's going to be uncomfortable again.

Don't train in pull ups - those are only for nap time and they will just think it's a diaper anyway. Just keep reminding them (whenever it crosses your mind... and if an untrained toddler is walking around your house in panties, it will cross your mind often) that they are wearing panties and that means they have to pee in the potty, otherwise it will be a big mess on mommy's floor.  Tell them if they pee in the potty they get 3 M&Ms and a sticker (they can't get those any other way)... at least this is all what I did.

Also, to make it easier on both of you, start by putting the potty in the play room or living room, wherever she spends most of her time... it's easier to remember for both of you when it's right there.  Then when you say "where are you going to go pee pee?", she will point right to the potty and say "in the potty!!"  She knows it's easy and fast to get to... toddlers want to play without stopping, so the more accessable the potty is, the better.

The first day I even took the potty outside when she wanted to play.  She used it twice outside... do that just in the beginning so they get used to using that.  Of course eventually they need to know to come inside to use it, but this is just at the very beginning.

To test her progress I would also recommend taking a potty training day off after about 3-4 days and see if she reminds you or not... just get a feel for how she views it.... and to give you a little break too.

This is just what I did... I hope these tips are useful.

Who knew that one day potty training would be the most exciting thing in my life??!!  LOL.  It's great.

Have I said my daughter is the best??