Then, (guys, she is crazy verbal) she started saying things like "I wanna go potty on the big girl potty!" and walking into the bathroom and closing the door every time she went pee or poop, and telling me as she paused and got a blank stare on her face, "Mom, I'm peeing right now!". And that went on for two solid months. Because we were headed on a twelve hour roadtrip with just the two of us, and another week-long family vacation so I was dragging my feet and thinking it might go away. Then I wanted to get her in a big girl bed first, in case she was the kind of kid that could potty train through the night. Luckily (sort of) that wasn't in the cards for her because we never did get that bed done and installed before we started potty training.
Long story short, we started. I had two different friends who had really good luck with the three-day method for potty training, so that's what we decided to use. I loved it. It's a quick read--like, you can read it all in one night. It's common sense and involves positive reinforcement, understanding, and creating opportunities for learning. Also it requires potty training and attention to your child to be your job and #1 priority for a few days- which I thought was logical since it is basically a job. So Jay and I talked through it, read the book, talked about what I won't be doing, what I will need from him, etc. and we started.
Day 1: We had several accidents in the morning, but by night time she had told me and made it to the potty more than once. We watched a lot of Moana and drew a lot of pictures sitting on a towel outside the bathroom this day.
Day 2: This was our hardest day. She hadn't slept well for her nap during day 1 or nighttime (accidents both times) and was tired. She made it through the first half of the day without accidents, but woke up from her nap early super grumpy and proceeded to have several more accidents before the end of the day. She successfully pooped on the toilet before bed (I basically caught her in the act of pooping and set her on the potty for her to finish the job, but it worked) and got a present for that, so we ended the day on a high note.
Day 3: Day 3 was a dream! A stressful dream, because I was worried about her having an accident all day, but still a dream! She went all day without an accident and I felt like she had finally caught on.
Post-three day method & issues we encountered:
The day after we finished the "method" training we went to Costco and she successfully went on a public toilet, which I was worried about! (Also worried about shopping in a warehouse so far from the bathroom, but we made it). I was feeling pretty good about it all. Then we went to the park with some cousins. And it was terrible. She told me she needed to go, but it was a little too late and she had a small accident, we rushed her to the potty to finish but I think she was stressed out and couldn't. I mean, I don't blame her- have you seen park bathrooms?! So that meant she had a second accident. Then we let her free-wander off in the trees with Boo for a while and came back with... can you guess? A little present for me. So 48 hours of no accidents finished off with a solid 3 within two hours.
One major problem we had (that contributed to the park accidents) was that if I knew she had quite a bit to drink and should probably go before we left somewhere she WOULD NOT. Like, would scream and do the dying swan type of would not try. She was totally great about going if it was her idea, but "trying" was not something she was game for. We have successfully skirted this issue by making a game out of "taking turns" with mom. Since we found this trick we haven't had any accidents because I can typically get her to empty her bladder before we end up somewhere I know could be too distracting for her to tell me in time. The other issue we've had is less major, and actually a little funny. Rory just has a hard time remembering to pull her underwear down, so three separate times she has gone up and gotten on the potty by herself and gone, only to call me up to help because she realized she still has her underwear on. Honestly, it's a pretty hassle-free mistake so I laugh more than get frustrated. Check with me in a few months to see how I feel if it doesn't change.
Night time. The woman who wrote the book had tons of ideas for nighttime potty-training and is a big believer that you should do both at the same time (meaning daytime and nighttime). This is I think the only point that I somewhat disagree on. Well actually, if you were super diligent and wanted your kid to be nighttime trained really badly I'm sure you could. But before we started potty training, Rory would still wake up with a super full diaper every morning and even if we withheld liquids 2-3 hours before bed and went potty twice before going to sleep, she would still have an accident an hour or two before she usually wakes up in the morning. I think 12 hours was just too long for her tiny bladder and she is the kind of girl who NEEDS her sleep, so we decided to give it the old college try, then after three nights we went to pull-ups. My plan is to hopefully do cloth diapers since there's only one per day and that's totally doable, and save pull-ups for things like vacations.
Update after a few weeks: Poop is still a little bit of a trial. I know when she needs to go because she tells me she needs to, then the moment she sits down stands right back up and declares, "No! I don't need to!" and does this about 6 times in a day. Apparently she likes her privacy on this matter, because if at the end of the night I take off her underwear for her and let her go by herself, she almost always gets the job done.
As for night time, we use ordered a cheap cloth diaper with good reviews off Amazon, and that's worked great. I'm planning on ordering several more and saving pull-ups for special occasions and babysitters! Unless she has something big to drink directly before bed, she wakes up fairly dry almost every morning anyways, which is new for her. Since we won't be spending money on pull-ups I'm putting off nighttime potty training for a while.
Otherwise, we still have accidents here or there, maybe once per week if I forget to take her potty before her nap or she's with a babysitter that's not family for the first time since potty-training (oops!), but otherwise she is doing amazing! I know this may not be the case with all my kids, so I'm counting my lucky stars with her.
No comments:
Post a Comment
comments are my love language.