Potty Training

Finally! We are getting somewhere with potty training. I have tried several times to potty train Janen. Several different methods and approaches. And it all boiled down to the fact that Janen was just not interested enough. Until now. A few weeks ago, I decided to start buying her diapers again (rather than pull-ups) because the pull-ups are rather expensive and Janen had refused for a couple of weeks to sit on the potty more than once a day. Every time we take a trip to the library for a new slew of books, I usually try and grab at least one potty book. But whenever I would try to read it to Janen, she would say, "no, not that one." If I kept reading, she would protest louder. So those books never got read.

About a month ago, I checked out some Little Critter books and Janen fell in love. She would ask me to read them over and over again. Well last Wednesday at our visit to the library, I noticed that they had a potty training story where Little Sister learns how to use the potty. For some reason, Janen really connected with this book and even asked me if she could sit on the potty. I seriously thought it would just end up being a fluke (like every other time) but I'm not going to say no to a child who asks to sit on the potty! After I read it two times in a row, she peed! The real test was seeing if she'd let me put underwear on her and sit on the potty again in 45 minutes. She agreed and she went potty again after a couple of stories.

On Sunday, after church, we put her in underwear for the rest of the day. Well, until bedtime that is. She had 2 big puddle accidents that day and a couple of really really small ones. The first one made her cry (which had never happened before). The other times I tried potty training she could care less that she peed in her pants, but I think this time was different for her. She really wanted to succeed and was sad that she had an accident.

On Monday, I put her in her underwear as soon as she woke up. I did put a diaper on her for a nap because if anyone knows my child, naps can be a real pain and she was not going down easy for me. I didn't want her to pee in her pants and prolong the process of going down for a nap. She had one accident that day, but this one was a huge improvement. Meaning, she noticed she had to pee and ran mid trail to the toilet. The other accidents, she would just stand there and let all the pee come, but this time she knew to run to the potty. I knew when that happened, that we were truly getting somewhere! And since then, she has been accident free (crosses fingers)! She even went pee 3 times on a public toilet when we were at the baseball game! That has never happened!

Today (Wednesday) I decided to take the leap and keep her in her underwear for a nap. She slept almost 2 hours and stayed dry. HALLELUJAH! I know I should brave it at night, but I'm still weary. Mostly because she has yet to poop in the potty during this particular training session. When I put a diaper on her she poops within 30 minutes. I do have some plastic liners I could put over her and I think that's what I will do. Maybe she needs to poop in her underwear once or twice before she realizes that she needs to do it in the potty too.

I'm a firm believer that your child will let you know when they are ready and you should take the cue from them. Janen dabbled in her interest but it always dissipated after a day. We have a sticker chart for Janen but after a couple of days, we haven't really needed it anymore. I don't really have to bribe her with treats anymore, but occasionally she will ask me for one (like maybe once or twice a day). But we had Janen fill up 10 spots with stickers (1 sticker for pee, 2 for poop) and once she filled up those spots, she got a surprise (a blow-up guitar was the first and a candy necklace for the other two times). After she filled it up 3 times (the first time literally took 3 weeks!) She didn't need the bribery anymore.

I am super proud of Janen and really hope that this sticks. Since Janen is not really a greedy kid and knows how to share, I'm hoping that when her baby sister comes that she won't regress. I'm trying to emphasize with her all the big girl things she can do that her baby sister won't be able to yet and I ask her if she will be willing to help me take care of her sister when she comes. She always answers me with an excited, "yes!" I seriously thought this potty training success was still months away, but I should've known that with Janen flexing her need for independence a lot last week, as well as her need to prove that she can do things on her own was exactly the stage she needed to get to be ready to potty train once and for all. And thank goodness for that! And she really does look so adorable in her little underpants. :)