Potty Training

Saturday May 25th we went cold turkey on diapers with Adelyn. All big girl panties here! I’m doing this post more for me more than anything, I want to remember this process (hopefully it will go as smoothly for baby brother in a few years!). I waited for this weekend ‘cause I needed Kyle there to take care of Avery so I could give Adelyn 100% of my attention and it was a 3 day weekend {it was also Kyle’s birthday…sorry hun!}.

This is the post that got most of the tips from. I read quite a few different things about potty training and I liked that this way went cold turkey on diapers and that the child seems to learn fairly quickly. I didn’t want to be buying pull ups for the next 6 months.

Once Adelyn woke up Saturday morning I put her in NEW big girl panties and a tunic (easy to pull the panties down and hop on the potty). We made a big deal about her new panties and she was excited about them. In hindsight I should have bought more than just 1 pack of panties (only 3 pair – did LOTS of laundry those few days!).

After a {somewhat} healthy breakfast I started in on the “fun”, “new” snacks. I had bought cheese crackers, pretzels, chips, and various other snacks that we don’t usually have. And then I also bought juice boxes, which is also a treat at our house! So we stuffed her full of salty snacks throughout the day to get her drinking that juice which would induce lots of trips to the potty! Throughout the day I constantly reminded her that she needed to tell Mommy & Daddy when she needed to go potty. We set the timer for 12-15 minutes and went and sat on the potty about that often. To keep her entertained while on the potty we read books, sang songs, and Mommy made up lots of silly songs/dances!

When we had a successful trip to the potty she got M&Ms and got to put cupcake stickers on a chart on the fridge {one for telling us she had to go potty, one for going pee in the potty, one for wiping, flushing, washing hands, etc}. The M&Ms and stickers worked great for Adelyn!

She had her first accident and HATED it! She cried and cried. Part of me was glad that she didn’t like it, gave me hope that this would sink in quickly for her! We went and sat her on the potty and talked about how she needed to pee in the potty, not on the floor or in her panties. Then we had one of her  babies pee on the potty {read: use a syringe to make the noise ‘cause Target didn’t have a baby that pees actually pees}. And then baby got M&Ms.

At this point Adelyn still wasn’t happy, still fusing with tears rolling. She crawled up into Daddy’s lap and essentially played possum {it was like she instantly to sleep, but really wasn’t}. I tried to put her panties on and instantly started flailing around “NO PANTIES”! But we stuck to our guns and got those panties back on her and distracted her with new coloring books and colors to play with.

We had LOTS of accidents on that first day and Adelyn HATED it! I was *this* close to throwing in the towel {especially when she was playing possum and clearly hated what we were doing to her}, but I’m SO glad that I didn’t!

But we also had a few successes that first day and then those times came along we made a HUGE deal about her peeing in the potty and danced, jumped around, and cheered for our big girl! She loved that! She also loved her “cup-ake” stickers! {come on, what kid doesn’t love stickers?!?}

For nap time we kept her in her panties and she woke up dry! I was SO surprised and proud of her! At night time we are still doing a pull up. I didn’t want to do a diaper because we keep talking to Adelyn about how diapers are for babies, like Avery and Adelyn is a big girl and doesn’t wear diapers. So at least, for her, there’s a difference between the pull up & diaper. Also she still in her crib, so we probably won’t make the transition from pull ups at night until she’s in a big girl bed.

Day 2 was Sunday. I had a hard time deciding if we should go to church or not. I ended up sending Avery with Kyle and Adelyn and I stayed home. I’m glad I did because I could tell she was really starting to “get it”. She still had a few accidents that day, but was much better. Sunday was also Kyle’s birthday so my Mom came over and watched both kids for us so we can have a little “day date” (which probably wasn’t the smartest idea with her potty training, but we needed some time together). She had 2 accidents while we were gone, BUT also went #2 in the potty! Overall day 2 was WAY easier than day 1. By day 3 Adelyn had ZERO accidents! I was so proud of her and surprised at how quickly she caught on!

We are still working on the #2 part. When she has to go #2 she says “owie bottom” and won’t go in the potty. Just last week we had 3 days in a row where she went #2 in the potty  and I thought we had it whipped, but then another accident. So besides for the #2 part, she has done AMAZING with potty training!

I think the hardest part this past month is when we are somewhere that doesn’t have potties (like the 3 parades we’ve been to) or if she gets too distracted doing something fun. We got her 2 year pictures taken the 1st weekend in June and there was a farmer’s market going on and none of the businesses would let us use their bathroom. My Mama Bear came out…come 60 year old lady (grandma age!) you really expect me to put my NEWLY trained, not yet 2 year old on the porta potty! Thankfully a nice bar owner let us use their restroom! End rant!

I highly recommend this route for any parent. I love that it doesn’t drag it out and how quickly Adelyn learned. I was NOT excited at all about potty training and kept putting it off even though I knew Adelyn was more than ready. If your child is showing signs, run with it! Don’t be afraid! Accidents aren’t that bad! {I had all my cleaning supplies stocked on the counter ready to go before we started day 1}