Potty Training 101!

Obviously, I have two children, so you’d think potty training would be easier this time around… however, here’s my little secret: I didn’t potty train Laney.  Yep, that’s the truth, I got through the first kid without doing much potty training at all… she mostly trained at Cannery Row Preschool (thanks, Tamra), and I had very little to do with it.  I just helped her go at home, and she was pretty much totally potty trained by the time she was 2.  Yeah, that was awesome.

But, no Cannery Row anymore, so I knew I was on my own with Number Two… we got out the potty, and she went a few times, but I kept putting off really trying.  And then I pinned this pin on Pinterest.  And Audrey turned two.  So I decided it was time to get serious.

The blog post I found basically said that the best way to start potty training was to spend 3 days or so doing nothing but potty training.  She said to stay home with just you and the child, don’t play outside or watch movies (both activities that they can get too involved in), shove the kid full of food and drinks, and take them to the potty every 15 minutes (like, set a timer).  And give them a treat every time they go to the bathroom.  After a couple days of this, the kid should be pretty well potty trained.  Not perfect, but pretty close. 
I figured that my only options for being able to stay home, just me and Audrey, would be Spring Break, and the summer… and I didn’t want to wait until June!  So, Spring Break it was.  Armed with pretzels, several kinds of juice, cookies, lots of Easter candy, some plastic training pants, and a timer, we started out on Monday!  I mostly followed what the lady suggested on her blog… I did use her little bath Cabbage Patch doll to practice going potty (thanks, Tim & Mal), and I kept the TV off and we stayed inside and played.  I did not run back and forth to the toilet every time she had an accident, though… felt too goofy for that!  Plus, she really didn’t have many accidents- she just had 2 that first day.  It was kind of fun to hang out just with Audrey, without the TV or any distractions.  We played with blocks, colored (with markers, which are usually off limits to her), and went to the bathroom CONSTANTLY!  :)

Blocks and coloring! :)

Her baby went potty several times, too!  Love the bored look on her face on this first one; I might have made that face a couple of times that day! :)

Too cute… what a good mommy she is!

The Easter candy came in handy… I used it as her treat after she went potty, just kept an egg-full on the shelf in the bathroom!

Anyway, the first couple of days went pretty well; we had about 2 accidents each of those days (including one at WM the second day… awesome).  The bad planning part was that we left on Wednesday for Columbia, so that weekend was kind of a mess!  Not the best time for potty training, since routine and consistency is important!  But we took every pair of underwear we had (and still did a couple loads of laundry there!) and everyone was really good about asking if she needed to go potty all the time (so much so that she started having a lot of attitude when she was asked… “NO!”  It was funny).  Anyway, so she did pretty well.  She did have a couple of accidents at Jessie’s shower, but who could blame her?!  There were cupcakes and bubbles and jewels, and we were all distracted! 
Since then (it’s been about a month), she just keeps getting better and better.  Now we’re down to only having two or three accidents a week, which I think is pretty fantastic for only being a month in.  She still wears pull ups at nap and bedtime, because she doesn’t wake up when she has an accident, so she will have 2 or 3 and just sleep in it.  So, yeah, we’ll let that come naturally!  But she really does a great job, and she's started making it through naptime without any accidents… and I’m happy to be down to using 1 or 2 pullups a day, and no more changing diapers or buying diapers!! 

Plus, no diapers means her pants are a little saggy, which leads to pictures like this:

Hilarious. 

And, speaking of hilarious, check out this video of Miss A from Columbia… she has learned the color orange, and her age... sort of!!  :)

Yep, Audrey thinks she's five.  And no amount of convincing will make her say 2.  Although, now we've asked her so many times she's figured out that it's a joke, and laughs every time she says it.  Our girls definitely have a sense of humor! 

The orange thing kind of happened on accident... she says it with this deep, gravelly voice that is pretty funny.  And, again, now we've asked her so much she thinks it's hilarious.  Just since this video, though, she's learned several other colors- purple and black, and is hit or miss with blue, green, red, etc.  She's learning so fast!! 

So there is my take on potty training.  Kind of a pain for a week or two, but TOTALLY worth it not to have to change diapers, and not to have to BUY diapers!!  Next up: getting rid of the binky!!  But that's gonna have to wait until this summer... don't have the energy now! :)