Potty Training

It's potty training time around our house

We started the week after Christmas while Ava was still out of school and we had some back to back days at home to work on it. I probably wouldn't have started potty training if it weren't for a baby on the way. Now that I have gone through the hard part I am so glad that we decided to do it now. There is no way I could have potty trained her and cared for a newborn at the same time.

I didn't read any books but talked to many of my friends who have already potty trained their kids. For two solid days we stayed at home and wore panties. There were lots of accidents in the beginning but she gradually got the hang of telling me before she had to go so we could race to the potty.

We talked a lot about going on the potty before hand. We went to Target and she picked out some Dora soap, princess wipes, candy, stickers, and I made a sticker chart all in preparation for the big day.

I gave her lots of incentives for going tee tee on the potty. When she went tee tee she got a skittle and a sticker on her sticker chart. I even picked out a few "surprises" from the dollar section at Target to give her after she had several stickers on her chart. Thanks Megan for the idea! She got a surprise after going 4 times then 8 times then 12 and so on. I have phased those out but they were also good motivation in the beginning.

Since we have carpet I layed out some plastic table cloths in the areas of the house she plays in the most. It helped a ton! I had my 409 and carpet cleaner on hand but most of the time her accidents were on the table cloth so I just sprayed and wiped it up. She was so excited to wear big girl panties, that she picked out, and go like a big girl on the potty. She had about 6 back to back accidents the first day before she finally started to recognize what the urge to go potty felt like and actually tell me before hand. I wanted to quit but I knew that this was going to be the hardest part and I needed to push through it. The good thing is is that despite peeing on herself she still wanted to keep going on the potty and was excited about it. Her good attitude kept me going. By the afternoon on the first day she finally got the hang of it and didnt have any accidents the rest of the day and was going successfully in the potty.
Something that I did that helped a ton the first few days was have her princess potty close by. Since she didnt know how to hold it very long this helped us to make it to the potty in the time. I wanted her to be successful and feel proud of herself for going on the potty despite which one it was. Every time she went we both clapped and cheered. She loved it! Especially after she got her skittle and sticker.
The first day she even poo pooed on the big potty!! It took several attempts though so early on we put on a tv show for her to sit and watch so she could relax and go. Unfortunately though she peed mindlessly on her potty and didnt even realize it so I quickly realized that sitting on the potty for more than 5 minutes watching tv while only trying to go tee tee was not helping her learn what the urge to go felt like.
Her and I played lots of dress up while we were at home. Too spare my embarressment I didnt take any pictures of my unshowered self adorned with necklaces, hats, scarves, and purses picked out by Ava but it was pretty funny. One of the great things about potty training was that she got my undivided attention for two solid days and she loved every minute of it. It was good to have time like that together before Connor arrives.
I was expecting less accidents the second day but unfortunately it was a lot like the first. Many accidents in the beginning and then it finally clicked again in the afternoon.

Where we are now is she wears panties whenever we are home and wears pull-ups while she is sleeping and when we are out of the house. She is doing awesome at holding it longer and telling us when she needs to go. We are asking her if she needs to go less and less, in fact the last two days I havent asked her at all, and several times recently she has gone and sat on the big potty or little one if we have it out and go all by herself without even telling us. It has been a slow process but we are so proud of her and how far she has come. Sometime soon we will tackle phase two of potty training...wearing panties while we are out. She went on the potty at the library and the YMCA for the first time yesterday so that is another huge step! I tend to not give her enough credit and she has humbly reminded me that she is a lot more capable than I think.