OK I am NOT bragging and I am by NO MEANS an expert but I thought I would at least let you guys know how our potty training has been going. I guess I should also preface this with... we did NOT push it and we did not use any specific method and it seems to be working for us... but every family and every kiddo is different.
At Christmas Channing asked her FunCole (my brother & her uncle) for a big girl potty. At Christmas she was about 18 months old and had shown interest in the whole potty experience but had not yet gone on the actual potty. It at that time was all about questions... 'what you doing, you going TT, go potty'? etc etc etc. Christmas day she did use it and every few days she continued to use is and then seemed to loose interest here and there. Then a couple of months ago she started going every night before her bath. She continued going in her bath too... then she started telling me when she was about to go TT in her bath. I realized this was a good thing because it meant that she was figuring out what it felt like when she needed to go. Then a few weeks later she started telling me she wanted to get out of her bath to go on her potty! Making progress people making progress!!!
Then on the weekends the requests to go TT in the potty started increasing and then during the evenings at home during the week. Then last Tuesday evening she started telling me A LOT when and if she needed to go. The 4th of July we were going to the lake and I thought for sure she would just go in her diaper all day knowing there would be a lot going on. Well she surprised us all by requesting to use the potty ALL day with no wetting her diaper.... even during her nap. So Thursday morning she wanted to go FIRST THING when she woke up and continued all morning with some training pants on. So, I decided to take her to Target and let her pick out BIG GIRL PANTIES and test our luck. This was hard for me in a couple of ways. One, it is one of the last 'baby' things to go and that makes me sad (dont get me wrong I am not sad about dirty diapers being gone and the expense being gone but you get my point). The 2nd reason was because I had a sneaky feeling she would choose a 'character' ie Minnie Mouse (the winner) or Dora or something else. If you know me I am not a huge fan of character stuff but I have learned that sometimes letting it go is way worth it! I also said I didn't like CRAZY kid toys before I had Channing.... oh my how the times have changed... eating my words now :) .
She only had maybe 3 accidents since last Tuesday and has done SO well. Yesterday was her first day back at CCDC since last Tuesday and it was rough. We all think she was very nervous about going on the 'new' potty's at school and having her teachers take her instead of it just being me. BUT, today has been so much better. She has still wanted to go on the potty and I don't think she has had any accidents.
So I guess the thing that seemed to work/be working for us is kind of letting her decide when she was ready and giving her all the tools and knowledge we could about the whole thing. This was one thing as a first time parent I just couldn't figure out and kept wondering how in the world I would potty train her. It stressed me out a little but in the end this was all VERY stress free for us as a whole family!
I will say for a while when she would go I would give her a fruit snack or oreo... but girlfriend has a SWEET tooth and she didn't want to go potty she just wanted the 'treat' and then would ask ALL THE TIME for candy or a cookie haha.... rewards weren't working for us so I just decided to stop that. She is also obsessed with chapstick and I thought that might work as a reward but she gets too CRAZY over 'LIPS' as she calls it and often eats a good bit of it... so I decided not to go there either haha. Just waiting it out worked for us just fine.
If you are not a mom I am sorry if this is TOTALLY boring to you... If you are I hope that this helps a bit. We are still feeling out what works as far as panties or pull-ups because of number 2 situations... but I am not worrying about it. It will all work out in time. I keep telling people she basically potty trained herself... I guess she kind of did... Thanks sweet girl!
Go Channing!!! Way to go!!!
ReplyDeleteWe're entering into the interest stage. He's been consistently telling me when he goes poo-poo. He understands the TT in the potty concept. Someone gave us a little seat to go on the big potty and he's TT'd a couple times sitting on it and seemed very proud of himself.
We're definitely with you on the whole "no stress" potty training... we'll get there when he's ready!
Hope Channing keeps up the good work!!