Isabella is potty trained!
I've been trying to stay home this week to help her really get in the habit the past two days, but for the past week, she seems to have figured it out! We did our first big outing today in "big girl panties" - I left her in the church nursery for a couple of hours, and they said she told them every time she had to go!
Here's what worked for us:
As soon as she started showing readiness signs (around 15 months), we brought in a "little potty" and I would let her sit on it whenever she wanted. I tried a few times to let her run around with her bottom uncovered so that she might be more likely to recognize when she was "going." I had always heard that after a few accidents, they figure it out.
This did NOT work for us.
It makes perfect sense to me, but toddlers don't always do what makes sense, do they? She would just "hold it" and get really stressed out and whiny until I put her in a diaper, and then she would go. Or she would have little accidents, getting more and more upset. I took this to mean that she wasn't ready. I realized that she was perfectly "diaper trained", but what good is that? She knew when she had to go, she could hold it, but she would not go anywhere besides her diaper.
For a few weeks before her second birthday, I kept telling her about how she was about to be a big girl and get a big girl potty and some big girl panties. On the weekend of her birthday, we took her shopping and let her pick out her own new potty and panties. (The potty we had been using was a hand me down from a cousin, and someone told me that her kids would only go in a new potty that they got to pick out, so we tried that.)
She picked out a Dora potty and Minnie Mouse panties.
On the way home, I told Izzy all about how sad Minnie Mouse gets when she gets pottied on, and Minnie Mouse is so happy when you go in the potty. Oh, and we also let her pick out a treat for when she went potty. She chose Oreos. I definitely think potty training is an ok time to let your kids indulge in some junk food! :)
If she had an accident, she would say "uh oh, Minnie Mouse sad." If I wanted to know if she was still dry, I would say "Is Minnie Mouse happy?" This language seemed to be less stressful for her than words like "accident" and "wet her pants". It does sound more positive, I suppose.
I have to give credit where credit is due, though. Yours truly had the "Minnie Mouse training". I actually remember conversations with my Mom about how sad I had just made Minnie Mouse. So, thanks to my Mom both for potty training me (very handy skill) and teaching me a nifty trick to pass down to my daughter. Izzy did pick out the Minnie Mouse panties on her own, though, so that's just a coincidence that it was the same cartoon Character. I'm sure the Spiderman or Spongebob or Cinderella would all be equally sad to get peed on, so whatever your kid picks will be fine.
We also let her call whoever she wanted when she went poopy in the potty, because who doesn't love a phone call that starts with "I poopooed!" :)
Apparently, that was all it took. Everything has clicked and she's been doing both "#1" and "#2" in the potty for almost a week now!
We've had some accidents of course, but I feel comfortable saying that she is potty trained! Well, I haven't even tried nap time and bedtime training, because that just seems like too much trouble for me, but I know we'll have to start soon because as we speak she is up early from her nap and sitting on the potty. I think she woke herself up because she had to go.
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| Her Daddy bought her a rose the first time she went poopoo in the potty. I know it's funny, but she loved it! |
So, I've only potty trained one and therefore can not claim to be the expert on potty training. I thought it would be nice to share our methods for other moms out there, though.
What worked or didn't work for you?
Oh, and they say cloth diapered babies train faster, so maybe that helped us out some, too!
This post was shared at Titus two 2sday
This post was shared at Titus two 2sday
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