It's been an eventful few months potty-training Mom and Dad, I mean, training with Mom and Dad. But the three of us have all learned a lot and I'm proud to say that I use the potty chair and wear big girl panties - just like a big girl!Our routine has evolved over the last few months, this is what I remember..
- Initially Mom and Dad set out to do a "progressive training" technique that had worked for friends and that they'd read about. This technique involves Mom and Dad taking time off of work and spending 3-4 days focused solely on potty training and rewarding me if I was still clean and dry. By noon on the first day we abandoned that idea for several reasons: 1) I was teething and not my usual pleasant self; 2) this technique relied on lots of juice or other beverage, and after never having had juice, I didn't care for it; 3) Because I didn't drink tons of juice I didn't have to go all the time so it stressed me out constantly being asked, "Do you have to go to the potty?"; and 4) instead of learning with my doll Gabby, I was more interested in having Gabby sit on the potty.
- So we went back to the diapers and spent a few weeks experimenting with the potty a couple times a day. I'd sit on the chair, sometimes for great lengths of time, which frustrated Mom a few times.
- Then the week before Christmas I decided that I didn't want to wear diapers anymore. Just like that, I asked to wear pull-ups that day. And that was the end of diapers. Mom made a potty chart for me and I got two stickers every time I went to the potty which was very exciting.
- After a few more weeks, Mom and Dad learned that I needed more motivation to go "poopy" on the potty. They brought in the goods (M&M's) and I quickly conquered that battle!
- One of the hardest things about using the potty was taking time out of my busy schedule to go. So one day Dad brought in "Mr. Dinger" (egg timer). Whenever, Mr. Dinger would ring I would eagerly run to the potty chair! After a couple more weeks, the idea of Mr. Dinger grew old, and since Mom suspected I was getting lazy with my highly engineered and absorbent pull-ups, she went straight to the big girl cotton panties. And once again, I quickly conquered yet another obstacle!
- I had a couple sneaky moments along the way too. Like the time Mom heard me rummaging around the bathroom at nap time. She came out to chase me back to bed only to find me holding the Baby Bjorn potty bowl full of poop and pee (I was on my way to emptying it myself into the toilet!). She was mortified and proud all at the same time. Or the time I snuck out after bedtime to use the potty. My parents didn't even notice until later when the potty chair was filled with pee and Mom and Dad's toilet was filled with 1/2 roll of toilet paper - which I hear clogged the toilet.
Look at all of my stickers in the picture above - I just filled up my second potty chart! Now I'm such a big girl that I don't even need stickers anymore. But I'm still holding out for those M&M's!
POST BLOG UPDATE by Mom (4/9/11):
For the past month Reese has been wearing her big girl Hello Kitty panties to school AND at night. We've only had a couple mid-night accidents with quick sheet changes, but overall she's doing so well and we are SO proud of her.
