Our potty training adventure....

Potty training is going much better than Joe and I expected!! We did the 3 day potty-training challenge. Basically it’s a potty training technique where you take 3 days and do nothing but focus on potty time. Both parents need to help because you really can’t take your eyes off the kid. You don’t leave the house, give the child lots of fluids, he/she runs naked and you just practice going on the potty. You set a timer and when it goes off it is time to sit on the potty.

We did the sticker chart for pee pee on the potty….2 stickers (since she is turning 2)  every time she went on the potty (thank goodness for all of my scrapbooking stickers!) and then a big prize for pooping on the potty (so far she has gotten an abacus, a barbie, and a pound-a-peg). If she held it for a long time, or went on the big girl potty she got to pick a little prize (match box car, dinosaur etc).

The start of day 1 was messy-6 accidents by noon, but the kid just kept peeing every 10-45 minutes, it was really hard to judge when she had to go.  She wasn’t holding it at all. Joe and I were thinking that maybe she wasn’t ready yet, but we agreed to keep trying the rest of the day. She woke up dry from nap time (had a diaper on) and went right to the potty and went. The afternoon was all on the potty-even a poop! It was like it was a different kid that afternoon!

Day 2 was great, huge improvement! She started telling us that she had to go and would run to the potty. One dribble on the way to the potty accident and that was it!  Day 3 went about the same as Day 2. She had one accident (she was so into playing with a toy she didn't give herself enough time to get to the potty).

Pooping has been a little harder. From my research and talking to other mommies that have done this, kids tend to hold it in for one reason or another when potty training. Savananh normally poops once a day….and that stopped. So we keep having a toddler that is lying on the floor crying in pain who won't let it out. So, we've been pumping in the fruits, apple/white grape juice, prunes etc. into her system to try to make it easier for her.

We have 4 toddler pottys (Elmo, Duckie, pink one, and a musical one). Savannah has chosen the Elmo and Duckie ones. We also ordered a travel seat that goes on the big potty, and she has taken to that too. We had huge success this week at the doctors. We put a diaper on Savannah for the car ride (we were going to be in the car close to an hour) and she held it the whole time. When we got to the hospital she told Joe she had to go pee pee. He was able to get her to the bathroom for her to go on the potty. We were really impressed.  Then, towards the end of the appointment, she told Joe that she had to go again.  They left the doctors office, ran down the hall, into the bathroom, into the stall, got the seat out, diaper down, and she STILL held it the whole way! She didn’t let anything out until she was on the toilet. Yesterday she made even more progress – ASKING to go poop on the potty.  Twice yesterday she notified us and got to the potty! 

We know that we are far from being completely potty trained and accident free, but we are only 10 days in and we think she is doing great!! We just have to get her to learn how to pull her pants/undies up and down herself.  They seem to get stuck, and if she has an accident she gets pretty mad about it.  For sure she has the general concept down: pee and poop go into the potty – and everyone seems REALLY happy after she puts them in there!