(Note: I've had a TON of posts in draft for some time now. You'd think summer would be a great time for me to get caught up eh? Not so much for me I guess)
(June 11-15, 2012)
Now that we're back from NC, it's time to get down to business...
Over spring break I tried to get Soph potty trained. I went cold turkey panties and used the potty seat that goes on a big potty. At that time, she considered the little floor potty to be a chair or a toy so it wasn't very useful. She went in the potty several times but I was having to instigate all the trips. I took her every thirty minutes or so and she sat on the potty for 5-10 minutes depending on how she felt about it. Inevitably as soon as she would get off the potty she would pee in her pants. After about 4 days being stuck in the house with some success but mainly failure I decided to lay off it a little. Also, when I had to go back to work there was inconsistancy between our house, Grandma's house, and the daycare. Alas, we gave up for a while.
Until this past week. I spent a lot more time researching ideas. The teacher in me wanted to make sure I was well prepared for this huge life lesson. I had read about the 3-day method before but wasn't really willing to spend $30 on a book that was probably full of common sense. If you're interested, here is the site to order it. Then through my adventures in Pinterest, I came upon this. Growing a Jeweled Rose is one of my favorite Mommy-Blogs to follow. She used her own three day method that was not complicated and gave me some ideas for how I could adjust things to meet Sophia's needs.
The Plan
Ken was going out of town for a few days so I figured that would be a great time to do this. In case you aren't familiar, typically 3-day methods include LOTS of naked time. In fact, it's basically three full days of naked baby. I also planned to stay put in my bedroom for the entire time. It's important to stay confined to one space for the whole time. We have tile in our living room which would have been better but with the open floor-plan it wasn't possible to keep her in one spot. So the bedroom it was...carpet and all. I was terrified of this, envisioning pee and poop all over my bedroom. I ran all of my errands and made sure I had what I needed for meals for three full days. And that's that. 3 full days of movies, games, coloring, learning activities, potty in the middle of the room, naked baby, and Resolve carpet cleaner on hand.
Preparation
I made sure to run all of my errands before we started. You really cannot leave the house during those three days. I bought some toys and other prizes from the dollar store. I also bought an Elmo coloring book that was all about going potty. In it was a great reward chart and stickers. We don't really do candy for her so I got some Dora fruit snacks for rewards as well.
Day 1
Oh day 1... talk about frustrating. First thing in the morning I got her from her room and stripped her down. I had already set up her potty in the middle of the floor, hung her reward chart, and set up her fruit snacks, stickers, and Poo Poo Prizes (dollar store toys 'n such). We started out by reading a couple of potty-themed books: Big Girls Go Potty by Marianne Richmond and Potty Time With Elmo. Then we colored together in the Elmo Potty Book. Through each book I pointed out her potty each time we read about going potty. I frequently asked her if she needed to go potty. She always said no. Finally around 11am she started to go. I grabbed her and placed her on the potty to finish up. We used the Fischer-Price Cheer for Me Potty and even though only a few drips made it into the potty, it still sang the now all too familiar tune "You went potty! Yay! Dun-duh-duh-dun-dun-dundundun..."I stood up and cheered like a crazy person and she followed suit. We sounded like a couple of sirens "Woo woo woo woo woo!" We wiped, flushed it, washed our hands, she got her first sticker, and her first fruit snack. The rest of the day was more of the same. Lots and lots of pee on the floor but we still made a big deal about the little amounts that landed in the toilet. I put her in a diaper for her nap and explained that she only used diapers when she went nite-nite. She never pooped on day 1. By the end of the day I was exhausted and so frustrated.
Day 2
Today started out much the same. She wasn't telling me in advance that she needed to go. She would start going and freak out that there was a "mess" on her legs. Still we kept at it. Later that afternoon I was sitting on my bed reading and she was watching a movie. Suddenly I heard it. "You went potty! Yay!" Followed by, "Woo woo woo woo!" She did it! She went on her own! I should have known. In typical Sophia fashion, she'll do what you want her to do but in her own time and in her own way. After our HUGE celebration she told me Wipe it! - which we did, Flush it! - which we did, Stickeeeer! - Which I gave her, and DOLA! - which means Dora - which is the type of fruit snack we were using. From that moment on, she had it. She would go and go and go in the potty. Her collection of stickers was growing rapidly too.
She would even try to go when she didn't need to just to get the celebration. Later that night she even pooped on her own! She got to pick a Poo-Poo prize from the bag. She selected a set of erasers shaped like cakes, cupcakes, and ice cream cones. She was stoked. When I put her to bed that night she wanted to hang on to one of the erasers. Obviously not a good idea for bed time, I had to take it away from her. She cried herself to sleep saying "My pwize! My pwize!" It was so sad and so funny at the same time but most of all I knew she was proud of what she did and proud of her prize.
Day 3
She woke on Day 3 with a dry diaper. This had happened before but not consistently. Right away we stripped down (I left her shirt on for day three) and she headed straight to the potty. Zero accidents. I was amazed, thrilled, and so so so proud of my girl. By the end of the day I started putting her in panties ("My penties!") She has a hard time getting her panties off on her own, especially over her big butt ha! (I wonder where she gets that junk in the trunk?) So she tells me when she has to go and I help her get undresses.
The next day I attempted to leave the house. She didn't have any accidents but she didn't go at the store either. We also had to go to the airport to pick up Ken. She did fine the whole way to El Paso and she didn't want to sit on the potty at the airport. She had a tiny accident while we waited inside but she stopped herself once she felt it and she finished in the potty. From that day, she had ZERO accidents for two weeks! I started a BYOP policy for outings (Bring your own potty). I carry her little Dora Potty Topper around in a plastic bag inside my big bag. She tells me when she has to go and I carry around rewards as well. She has had a couple of accidents at the gym, I think because she's not comfortable telling the girl there that she needs to go. She also had several accidents when we went to Dallas for the 4th. This time I think it's because she was wrapped up in having toooo much fun! As soon as we were back she was back on track.
She collected a ton of stickers and made her way through all of the Poo Poo Prizes which she loves, especially this one -
Here are some other highlights from potty training:
- After a couple of weeks she stopped asking for prizes although occasionally she'll ask for a "Dola".
- Soon we moved the potty into the vanity area of our bathroom. One time she came out "Woo woo-ing"and grabbed Ken's hand to do the routine. She hadn't actually gone and he told her "I don't see it" from then on, when she tells us she has gone she says "I see it!" and "Show me!" haha
- We kept her sans-panties at home for a few weeks too. She's miss independent and prefers to be able to go as she pleases rather than having to ask us for help with her "penties" Although now she's starting to get the hang of pulling down her pants.
- If she goes before a nap, she doesn't need a diaper but for now we're still using them at night always.
- If even one tiny drop of pee gets on the floor or on the seat she freaks out and says "Uh oh! A mess! Oh nooooo!"
- She uses the potty as an excuse to get out of doing the things she doesn't want to do: ie. naps, sitting in a high chair, cleaning up her toys, etc.
It's so cool to be moving away from diapers entirely. I think we'll keep using them for a little while longer. Until she's totally comfortable with pulling up and down her pants. Shouldn't be too long though. I couldn't be more proud of my girl!
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