Potty Training Part 2!

So I decided to try potty training T again as it had been a couple months and I had 4 days off work. I was hesitant because I was pretty burnt out and didnt think I had the energy. We got up yesterday morning and I hid her diapers in the top of her closet. I told her we had no more diapers as previously she would run into her room and insist on putting one on. She picked out a pair of panties and I told her if she had to pee to let me know and she would get smarties for peeing on the potty. Well about 45 minutes later she jumped up off the couch and said "pee! I go pee! need help." She ran and got her potty dragged it in to the living room and peed! We danced, we clapped, we ate smarties...it was glorious!

All day long this continued. I stopped even having to ask because if I wasnt paying attention she would still use the potty! I put her in a pull-up for nap-time as she still sleeps 3 hours and I am not prepared to give up that sleep time just yet! She had one accident in the evening when she was playing excitedly with Daddy and jumping in crib and forgot, but other than that she did perfect. But she insisted on being in her underwear or no bottoms at all and while that is fine for home it wont work for daycare or anywhere else! We put her in a diaper for night time (insisting they were just for nights) and prided ourselves on a job well done!

Day 2

We got up this morning crossing our fingers that yesterday wasnt a fluke. She was excited again this morning to not have a diaper "like a big girl!" and then she listed all the big girls she knows (these include Daddy and Uncle E!).  All day was filled with successes. She peed, we celebrated and she ate smarties (purple are her favorite...Lucy you'd be so proud). Any time we left the house though she was in a pull-up and as soon as those go on its like a diaper and she just pees without a care. Every once in a while she runs to the potty sits on it for a while and then announces "pee gone" (false alarm). She uses her potties or the toilet ring on her big toilet interchangeably although she sometimes hops between the three of them trying to pick which one to go on. She had one accident today as well but over all it has been a very successful day!

So tomorrows plan...introduce the concept of pants! She actually had a pair on once tonight for her New Years photo and managed to get the potty and pee with only getting them a tiny bit wet, but I think that will definitely be the challenge. Since she does need to go back to daycare next week and I cant send her nude! So here's hoping that tomorrow goes as well as the last 2 days have!

All things potty...

So we just got back from our night away and Tegan has been in diapers the entire time. I think the break was good because she is interested in all things potty again. On Friday she got mad and threw her potty books if I even suggested them as reading material! We have a couple home from the library and Tegan really likes "The Big Potty Book" and "You Can Go To The Potty" by Dr. Sears. Tonight she specifically chose those as her books to read and we watched "Once upon a Potty for her" a DVD based on the bestselling book.  Its a short 6 minutes video explaining the potty process and then a 5 minute music video called the potty song...which I will now be singing for the rest of the night.

Then we *tried* to put her to bed. As soon as we got her in her crib and sat back down on the couch she started shouting. "I Pee-Pee.....I Poo! I Pee-Pee....I Poo" over and over non-stop. So after a quick rock/paper/scissors it was determined that I would go in and check on her. I checked her diaper and she was dry. So I put her back, but she kept grabbing her crotch dancing around and saying the same thing. So I got her up and she wanted to sit on the toilet ring on the toilet not on her potty. After a couple minutes and no pee or poo she got up and wanted to play. Actually she wanted to cause mayhem. She poured a glass of water on herself and then picked food out of the garbage and started to eat it. We soon wrestled her back to bed.  Has she really got it figured out that by stating she has to go the washroom she can get out of bed time!!

Hooray for the weekend!

Well we got up this morning and I immediately stripped Tegan down and let her have some naked time. After about half an hour she came to find me in the kitchen and was prancing around holding her crotch. I told her to go sit on the potty and she shouted "no!....no, no ,no, no, no, NO! It actually went on for about two full minutes and I could still hear her shouting "no!" after I left the room. So I went and got a diaper and that was the last I bugged her about the potty today. She actually pooped 4 times that morning once she was in a diaper. I think she was holding back throughout the week! She didnt seem to be annoyed with going back to the diaper and would announce sweetly several times through the day "pee-pee." I just shook my head...of course now you'll tell me!! 

Stumped!

So I spent all day with Tegan in her training pants with no success. She did get used to having the potty in the bathroom and she came willingly with me every half an hour to have a sit down and hang out. We read books, sang songs, ate mini-freezies and made it through the day with no Franklin which was nice. But she stopped telling me when she has to pee, she never once peed in the potty the whole time we spent sitting in there and every time I checked her underwear were wet so she was just peeing in her training pants without a care. I had a waterproof liner on her today so I didnt have to change her pants every time and I was actually surprised it didnt bother her at all to be wearing it. But, she would be sitting in cloth underwear soaked in pee and not say a word.

 So at the end of the day I took her clothes off and let her have some naked time. I was doing something in the bedroom and she came to tell me she had to pee! I told her to go to the potty and she did and immediately peed! Big celebrations, 2 jelly beans (jelly beans rock her world and at some point I have to film the little dance she does when she can see me getting them off the top shelf). Why can she tell me when she's naked and not clothed in any fashion? So you'd think we could just let her be naked at home until she gets more confident in her potty-ing...well not so fast. I let her stay naked and about 10 mins later she came to tell me she had to go again. I told her to sit on the potty and she said no. She danced around the bedroom saying "pee-pee", grabbing her crotch and refusing to sit on the potty. I eventually broke down and asked her if she wanted a diaper, she said yes, we put one on and that's where she went.  

So what I have gathered from this week. Tegan can tell when she is going to pee when she's naked. If she wants to go in the potty she will and if she doesnt it doesnt matter how many jellybeans you promise her she will glare at you and then go pee somewhere else. If she is clothed she either cant sense when she has to pee or feels she doesnt need to because she has something to pee in and this goes for any kind of underwear, pants or pull up.  I went for a run this evening to figure out where to go from here (since out running is generally how I make most of my life decisions) and I'm stumped. I'm not sure other than providing her some naked time so she can go to the potty if she wants and waiting for her body to mature a bit and she can feel the pee signals stronger, if there is anything else to try.

Today was an experiment

So I started the day trying out the pants with no underwear method. I also got ambitious and moved the potty back to the bathroom and cut-off the Franklin videos....too much?  The panty-less method was an epic fail. Tegan peed in 11 different pairs of pants by 11am!! More pees than in other days total! It was like she let every little dribble come out whenever she wanted! So I put her down for her nap and re-evaluated my plan.

I decided to try her in her potty-patty training pants for the afternoon. It was harder to get her into the bathroom to sit on the potty without the lure of watching Franklin. So I would give her a Smartie to get her in and on the pot. Once she was sitting down she was mostly fine. We sang songs, talked about our knees (Tegan loves knees) and she seemed to enjoy pulling her pants and underwear up and down. We did this every 25 minutes for 2 and half hours with no pees, none in the potty, none in her underwear (I think she peed herself out in the morning!). At 4:30 Tegan announced she had to pee, went into the bathroom, grabbed her potty and dragged it back out to the dining room. She sat on in for about 10 minutes and didnt go and by then we had to leave for dinner so she was in a pull-up the rest of the evening as we were out.

We got home from dinner and I asked T if she needed to use the potty before bed...she said "k!" and immediately started to drag her potty from the bathroom into the dining room again. I tried to stop her and tell her the potty stays in the bathroom but she started screaming. We gave up at that point and put her nighttime diaper on and had a cuddle before bed. I dont think it's the dining room so much she is insisting on but the Franklin...what have I started!! Something we have noticed during this potty-training week is how much extra sleep T is needing. Trying to learn a new skill is tiring! She has been sleeping 12+ hours a night with a 3 hour nap each day.

Day 4 - is it bed time yet...

Today had some ups and downs in the potty department. We did great in the morning going 5 for 7 pees in the potty.  She also started to let us know when she has to pee by crossing her legs and grabbing her bits. This makes it easier to get her to the potty in time and it means she is recognizing the feeling of having to pee.  The only concern in the morning was she got very upset at one of her accidents. She actually threw herself into my arms crying (dripping pee and all) and had to be consoled for a couple minutes. But other than that things were going great. 

Then came dinner...Tegan started to melt down for unknown reasons. She told me she had to pee and then refused to sit on the potty. She ran away and peed in kitchen and then cried...a lot. She then started the whole routine again...saying she has to pee, hopping around and then refusing to sit on the potty. We couldnt figure out what was going on and then clued in that she hadnt pooped yet today so maybe that was the issue. I put a diaper and some pajamas on her and a couple minutes later she runs to the potty saying she has to pee and trying to pull off her pants. We get her clothes off and she doesnt want to sit on the potty again.  Get her back in a diaper and a couple minutes later she poops. We declare all the  fussing and confusion due to the poop and figure everything should be back to normal.  Tegan once again tells me she has to pee and stands beside her potty trying to take her diaper off. I take her diaper off and try and sit her on the potty. She freaks out saying "no, no, no" and then runs down the hallway peeing in a long streak as she goes... 

Why stand beside the potty, removing your clothes, announcing you have to pee if you dont want to pee in the potty? So confusing. The only bright side is that that is the most consistently she has told us that she has to go instead of us just picking up on her clues. I'm hoping she was just tired and overwhelmed and done with day. She seemed really tired and we put her to bed shortly after.

So during her nap time I was doing some more "research" (read googling baby groups/forums) on people who initially potty-trained naked and then made the transition to clothing. Previously when we had Tegan in a pull-up or training pants she seemed to feel this was close enough to a diaper and gave her license to pee. The suggestion from other moms was to start by trying her in loose pants and bare bum. Without having any underwear pressed against her she doesnt have anything she feels she can pee in and when she does have accidents she will be aware of the wet pants on her. It also gets her used to the concept of going to the potty and pulling down her pants and pulling them back up.  The one thread I read the mom said to start the 1st clothed day with the idea in mind that you will go through ~10 pairs of pants...bring out the rinse pail, your naked days are numbered Tegan!  

So that is the plan for tomorrow... fingers crossed.  With potty training early she has very little warning from when she feels the urge to pee and when she goes so once we start layering clothes as obstacles in between her and the potty we could be headed for trouble.  I am also hopeful a goodnight sleep will erase the issues of this evening and that it was not the start of a new phase where she refuses to sit on the potty. 

Day 3 - very encouraging!

Day 3 went really well! I am so impressed with how Tegan is getting the hang of things. We stuck with the strategy of 5 minutes on the potty (minimum) every half hour.  Luckily she hasnt gotten bored or annoyed with the process at all. I did buy some dollar store toys so when I think she is getting tired of the routine I'll pull one of those out. She hung out naked for most of today because it was hot and drum roll please....5 out of 8 pees in the potty today!!

At one point I was loading the dishwasher and she came walking towards me with her potty bowl full of pee...unfortunately before I could get to her she dropped it...upside down. She was so distraught I had to fill it with "pretend" pee (water) so we could complete the bathroom routine of dumping it into the toilet and flushing. We stuck with 2 jelly-beans per pee and she was more than pleased with that. We got out of the house twice for a break and put her in a pull-up each time. Each time got home she had pooped so you can tell she is holding it waiting till she has a diaper on. Which is totally fine with me! I just want to get started on the potty use I dont need to rush it all.

Tegan definitely understands what we want her to do now. Her last two accidents she was quite upset about. One she peed in her bedroom and came running to me saying "oh no!! pee! no no!" (previously she would announce her peeing on the floor proudly and then attempt to dance in it). The last time she was kinda wiggling around the living room looking like she had to go and before she could make it to the potty she peed. She immediately burst into tears and wanted hugs from mommy and daddy. Which of course we gave her plenty of! and told her it was ok she was just learning and she was doing so well!

I'm also trying extra hard to spend a lot of time and energy down on the floor playing with her in between potty attempts. I dont want her to be mad or annoyed or frustrated at the process. I want to celebrate her successes and have fun in the meantime. Now do I drop Tegan off at daycare naked with her potty, laptop and a bag of jelly beans next Tuesday...

Day 2

Today did not get off to a great start. Tegan spent the first couple hours of the day on the potty more than off and we had no pees in the potty. She was watching way too many cartoons, so much so that she didnt want to go play outside she just wanted to sit on her potty and watch more Franklin (thank goodness for netflix!). I do not want my child watching hours of cartoons and just happen to pee in the potty because it is underneath her during all this computer watching!

So during her nap time I went for a run and decided on a new strategy. I would take Tegan to the potty every half-hour and have her sit for 5 minutes. The five minutes can be spent watching Franklin or reading books or playing with a new toy if it will keep her on the potty. At the end of 5 minutes we declare it a good sit on the potty, celebrate any successes, sometimes have a  mini-jelly bean and go back to playing.

I also wanted to be more consistent with what T is wearing so she's less confused. That went well, Tegan was either naked or in panties all day unless napping or out. Tegan seemed to be getting comfortable in her training pants although she often likes to double check that mommy and daddy have panties on too.  I never thought I would hear my husband say "see daddy has panties on too!" (just to be clear he does not wear women's underwear...)

We spent the afternoon out at the beach and then in the backyard with the kiddie pool so I didnt get to try out my new technique till dinner time. The 5 minutes on the potty and 25 minutes of play time works well. Tegan was always interested in coming back to the potty and hasnt gotten bored or annoyed with it. As for peeing in it that's another story. For first 2 hours she peed anywhere but! The kitchen, her highchair, the living room carpet....always immediately pointing out to us "ooh pee!"  It was the last potty-time of the night and I was  reading her her favorite potty book ("Potty" by Leslie Patricelli) when we were successful! We cheered, we high-fived, we shouted "I did it!" (her favorite line of her potty book).  She seemed very pleased with her self and enjoyed the flush, wash hands process. When she saw me reach for the jelly beans she was jumping up and down in excitement. 2 jelly-beans, a bath and good teeth brushing later it was time for bed. It was nice to go out on a high note!

     

Day 1!

Well today was the first day of the first attempt of potty training (does that sound like I'm setting myself up for failure?).  It started off well...Tegan loved to sit on the potty with an old laptop set up watching some youtube episodes of Franklin. She peed in the potty twice which elicited much praise, high-fives and of course the coveted jelly-beans (2 for each pee). She also decided that pull-ups and training pants were ok to wear which is better than last week when she screamed if I came near her with either of them.

We had a busy afternoon with Tegan getting her first haircut, a visit from family and we took a trip to a new toy store to pick up some more age appropriate toys T. She was constantly changing from being naked, to training pants to pull-ups to a diaper. We had no more pees in the potty and two pees on the floor. I tried to get her sitting on the potty as much as possible but Tegan has decided if she is sitting on the potty she wants to be watching Franklin and the last thing I want on the first sunny day in weeks is for her to be sitting indoors all day watching cartoons.

By dinner time Tegan was melting down...not sure if it was the busy day, the potty-training or the rough nap wake up, but she was not in the mood to do anything and was throwing the ultimate tantrums (she even threw a Quesadilla at me!).  When I tried to get her to sit on the potty one last time before bed she put her foot down. She slapped the couch repeatedly indicating she wanted to sit on the couch and watch her show and drink her milk while cuddling with mom and no more potty! So that's exactly what we did. In fact I opened a cider and Tegan and I cheers'd repeatedly as we downed our drinks! Also I have taught Tegan to say "toot!" loudly whenever she she passes gas and I find it quite amusing.

Preparation!

I am in life a planner and a compulsive list-maker. I have spent hours googling, reading blogs, watching youtube videos, reading library books and ordering dvd’s on potty-training. All this when most experts say that there is nothing I can really do to “make” Tegan learn to use the potty it will all come down to whether she is emotionally and physically ready to be potty-trained.  But having a list makes me feel like I have small sense of control over the process so here it is....

Potty-Training List:

Things to entertain her on the potty: flashcards, new book, new small toys

Ways to keep sitting on the potty fun: play, read books, sing songs, watch youtube videos

Rewards for going on the potty: mini-jelly beans, praise/high fives, stickers, freezes

To Buy: waterproof bed mattress, foam soap, spot remover

To have ready: rinsing pail

Why?

Why we are potty-training early (or what the majority of people seem to feel is early...those doing elimination communication have us beat by a long shot!)? Tegan is very interested in everything about the potty. She loves to sit on the potty...either her little stand alone one or on her Dora the Explorer ring that fits in our toilet. She tells us often throughout the day when she is peeing “oooh pee-pee!”  She tells us right away when she has pooped (so that she can blow kisses and wave bye-bye to it as it’s being flushed down the toilet).  She hates wearing a diaper...Tegan is a nudist at heart and seems genuinely upset/annoyed when it comes time to put her diaper back on.  One of the main reasons though to try potty training right now is I have 10 days off work with no plans other than to give it a serious try!

Disadvantages to our plan – Tegan cannot undress herself yet. This means if potty training is successful it still wont be independent. We will have to take her to the potty every single time to help her get her pants off and on....unless of course she is hanging out naked, which when potty-training in July this is definitely a possibility.  Tegan is also going through a phase where she hates a lot of her clothing. This includes all her dresses, most of her shorts and every pair of underwear/training pants/pull-ups/cloth diaper/swim diaper that she owns. If she has to have something on it will be her regular diaper and a pair of pants or fear the wrath...

   So using the bribe of wearing “big-girl” underwear isn’t going to work here.  All the training pants I so thoroughly researched online she wont go near. If I put her in a pull-up diaper she lays in a heap on the floor moaning “no, no, no.” So it’s a either a regular diaper or nothing for us...I have feeling we will be cleaning up lots of accidents!

Getting Started

Why a potty training blog?.... In “preparing” to train Tegan I read a few potty blogs that I could find through random Google searches.  They had some great tips on what worked and what to avoid. They were hilarious and horrifying in their “tales from the front line.” Unfortunately I could only find a few and therefore decided the world wide web needs more potty-blogs!

Also I figured people who were interested in how things were going could check in here, instead of me updating my Facebook all the time with potentially socially inappropriate updates.