So we're a few weeks away from Addison's 2nd birthday and we blocked out the weekend to stay home to give the whole "potty training in 2 days" method a try. We started this morning and I thought I'd record our progress so far. I must preface by explaining where Addison has been with the process prior to this weekend and why we decided to do this now. I wouldn't be wasting our weekend if I didn't think she was ready for this (as I'd really much rather be doing other things than staying locked up in the house for 2 days straight!)
When Addison was about 18 months or so, we purchased one of those small toilet rings that sits on top of the toilet. She was scared and hesitant to sit on it so we didn't push it. Gradually she would show interest in it and she did eventually manage to pee on it for the first time probably shortly after 18 months; that milestone seems like forever ago. About a month ago we bought the small toilet that sits on the floor. It's nothing fancy. Just a simple plain little potty. She took to it immediately and that's about when she started asking and going a lot at home.
About two weeks ago Addison and I were shopping at Walmart and she asked to go potty. I could hardly believe it. She's never asked in public. I didn't know what to do as I hadn't quite prepared myself for the public restroom ordeal with all it's nasty germies. I'm sure all of the people around me were thinking awful thoughts of this mom who was ignoring her toddler who was persistently asking non-stop. Eventually I relented and took her and she did indeed go. I think that milestone brought Addison incredible gratification because from that moment on she asked every time were were anywhere - restaurants, church, stores, road trips. And every time she asked, she went. Squealing with excitement each time - in the bathroom and of course outside of the bathroom for all of the restaurant to hear.
So that leads us up to today and the foundation for why we thought we might as well jump on this while she's showing so much interest in it. Part of the reason I thought we'd give the 2-day training method a try is because we both work and we're not with her during the day and I've heard that the "cold turkey" method can really work with some children. The school she attends will work with us and will put her on the potty as well, but they don't make it their priority to transition her to big girl panties. That's our job.
When Addison was about 18 months or so, we purchased one of those small toilet rings that sits on top of the toilet. She was scared and hesitant to sit on it so we didn't push it. Gradually she would show interest in it and she did eventually manage to pee on it for the first time probably shortly after 18 months; that milestone seems like forever ago. About a month ago we bought the small toilet that sits on the floor. It's nothing fancy. Just a simple plain little potty. She took to it immediately and that's about when she started asking and going a lot at home.
About two weeks ago Addison and I were shopping at Walmart and she asked to go potty. I could hardly believe it. She's never asked in public. I didn't know what to do as I hadn't quite prepared myself for the public restroom ordeal with all it's nasty germies. I'm sure all of the people around me were thinking awful thoughts of this mom who was ignoring her toddler who was persistently asking non-stop. Eventually I relented and took her and she did indeed go. I think that milestone brought Addison incredible gratification because from that moment on she asked every time were were anywhere - restaurants, church, stores, road trips. And every time she asked, she went. Squealing with excitement each time - in the bathroom and of course outside of the bathroom for all of the restaurant to hear.
So that leads us up to today and the foundation for why we thought we might as well jump on this while she's showing so much interest in it. Part of the reason I thought we'd give the 2-day training method a try is because we both work and we're not with her during the day and I've heard that the "cold turkey" method can really work with some children. The school she attends will work with us and will put her on the potty as well, but they don't make it their priority to transition her to big girl panties. That's our job.
So here goes... In preparation for today I got a few things such as apple juice, snacks to make her thirsty, prizes/rewards in a goody bag and some panties/training pants. We put sheets down on the rug in our den and put the small potty in a central spot on top of a towel. Our main plan for this morning was to strip Addison naked (really from the waste down but she decided she wanted to be completed naked for this event) and put her on the potty every 10 minutes.
Thus began our day. When she woke this morning I started off the day telling her today was 'no diaper day'!! Yay!! I showed her the big girl panties and got her really excited about them. After she went potty I put them on her, trying to show her how to do it herself. She loved them and so I thought maybe we would just wear those rather than go naked. But after the next time on the potty she really preferred naked as did we. I'd say we didn't exactly put her on the potty every 10 minutes. But close to that. A few times she would actually tell us she needed to go and we'd rush her to the potty. One thing we had read was not to ask her but to tell her and just take her and place her on the potty. We did that a lot. We would say "ok let's go potty!" and she didn't really resist but maybe a few times.
I was REALLY hoping for absolutely no accidents this morning, however she did have one. We just lost track of the timing and she was busy playing. Her bladder let go and she peed on the playroom floor. We made little of it, cleaned it up and on we went. Our biggest worry was that we knew she needed to go #2 but it seemed she just couldn't go. Her mind really wanted the comfort of the diaper. She even asked for a diaper a few times but we did our best to distract her.
Because she would go just about every time we put her on the potty, I didn't give a reward of any sort other than praising her. But every now and then I let her draw a little prize for 'you're doing great let's keep going' to keep her motivated and occupied. She had fun and we were able to keep her busy and by the time nap time came around at 12:30 she was very tired and ready to nap. (She still hadn't gone #2 though we tried many times). For naptime we opted to put her in a diaper (not a pull-up) just to be safe. Pre-nap was interesting because she kept asking to go potty. I wasn't sure if it was a stall tactic or what but I didn't want to resist so we would undo the diaper and let her go and she would. That all finally ended and she was in her bed and out in 2 seconds.
So hopefully part 2 will go as well this afternoon! It's exhausting but I'm hopeful this is going to pay off. We'll see!
Thus began our day. When she woke this morning I started off the day telling her today was 'no diaper day'!! Yay!! I showed her the big girl panties and got her really excited about them. After she went potty I put them on her, trying to show her how to do it herself. She loved them and so I thought maybe we would just wear those rather than go naked. But after the next time on the potty she really preferred naked as did we. I'd say we didn't exactly put her on the potty every 10 minutes. But close to that. A few times she would actually tell us she needed to go and we'd rush her to the potty. One thing we had read was not to ask her but to tell her and just take her and place her on the potty. We did that a lot. We would say "ok let's go potty!" and she didn't really resist but maybe a few times.
I was REALLY hoping for absolutely no accidents this morning, however she did have one. We just lost track of the timing and she was busy playing. Her bladder let go and she peed on the playroom floor. We made little of it, cleaned it up and on we went. Our biggest worry was that we knew she needed to go #2 but it seemed she just couldn't go. Her mind really wanted the comfort of the diaper. She even asked for a diaper a few times but we did our best to distract her.
Because she would go just about every time we put her on the potty, I didn't give a reward of any sort other than praising her. But every now and then I let her draw a little prize for 'you're doing great let's keep going' to keep her motivated and occupied. She had fun and we were able to keep her busy and by the time nap time came around at 12:30 she was very tired and ready to nap. (She still hadn't gone #2 though we tried many times). For naptime we opted to put her in a diaper (not a pull-up) just to be safe. Pre-nap was interesting because she kept asking to go potty. I wasn't sure if it was a stall tactic or what but I didn't want to resist so we would undo the diaper and let her go and she would. That all finally ended and she was in her bed and out in 2 seconds.
So hopefully part 2 will go as well this afternoon! It's exhausting but I'm hopeful this is going to pay off. We'll see!
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