Potty Training

I am so pleased to announce that my 2 year and 3 month old daughter is daytime potty trained!!! We still have a few accidents here and there but those seem to be diminishing. I bought a small pink Bjorn potty and a potty that goes on a real toilet when she was about 18 months old with the goal of just getting her used to them being around and if she was interested she could use them. She was fascinated with the Bjorn potty in the beginning and even used it a couple times although I'm pretty sure it was just a coincidence that she actually did anything in it. She then lost interest and we didn't push her.

Then when the summer arrived I thought it would be a good time to start for real. I was home on maternity plus she would need a lot less clothing, both of which would hopefully make it easier. Some people put their toddlers though potty training bootcamp and get them trained in a couple intensive days but since I had two newborns to deal with I didn't think that was the best option for me. Instead I went with a very casual training. We started using Pull-Ups and calling them underwear. It made it easier to pull down her pants and put her on the potty. I would ask if her if she needed or wanted to go to the potty and if she answered "No", I didn't push it. I didn't want her to resent using the potty.

I also provided her with incentives. We had a sticker chart but I also bought a bunch of stickers and small toys and kept them in a box beside the toilet. If she told me she needed to pee then used the potty or if she pooped in the potty then she would get a toy. If I put her on the potty then she peed (but didn't tell me she needed to) then she would get a sticker or two. We kept this up for about two months until she learned how to make herself pee when she sat on the potty.

I also let her run around naked outside on the front porch. I think that went a long way with helping her connect the feeling of needing to pee or poop with the actual event as we had a couple accidents (one of each) and you could see things click in her head when the accident happened. Eventually I bought some padded underwear from Babies R' Us and randomly started using them as well.

Finally, with one week left before I went back to work and with my husband home on vacation, we decided to commit to completing the potty training and put her in the padded underwear full time. We figured we would just deal with any messes. She did great! In the beginning we regularly took her to the bathroom to use the potty and then as the week progressed she started letting us know when she needed to go. We sent her to preschool in underwear as well. She had a poop accident on the first day but the second day she came home in the same pair of underwear and pants that she went in! I am so proud of her! She is still learning how to wipe, pull down her pants and pull them back up again but those will come with time.