Potty Training - Day 1

So we decided to buckle down and get this potty training thing done.  I've forgotten who recommended this, but we're following this "potty training in three days" method outlined here.  Today was Day 1.

The process actually started last night, when I told Samantha that we were getting rid of all the diapers and pull-ups, and that she would only wear them while sleeping from now on.  I told her that she could be "naked girl" all weekend, and that both mommy and daddy were going to stay home with her all weekend.  That was exciting!

This morning, we took off the last diaper and told her that all her pee and poo had to go in the potty now.  We reminded her where her potties were and we put a shirt on her, but nothing on the bottom.  We've done all of this before, so it was nothing new for her.  What was new was that we took all the diapers and supplies up to her room and put them away in a drawer.  I think this had a big impact.

She made a poo in the potty mid-morning, which was great.  We gave her all the juice she wanted, and after a while, she started dribbling pee down her leg.  She knows how to hold it, so she wasn't going to make a big puddle.  So she'd sit on the potty and put a few drops of pee in it, and we'd cheer and give her a sticker, but we knew she was still holding it.  We set a timer for 30 minutes and when it went off, it was time to try the potty again.  We did that all morning and she was only slightly resistant to sitting on the potty.  After a few tries, she was resigned to it - she knew that the timer meant she had to at least try. 

By nap time, however, she still had not done more than dribble a little pee.  I put her diaper on for nap and when she woke up, of course it was full.

We continued in the afternoon the same way.  We went outside and hung out in the front yard for a while.  I had her try the potty before we went out, then we put a long dress on, with nothing underneath.  We brought the potty out and she needed to sit on it a dozen times in the hour we were out there, but still, just dribbles.  At one point she started begging for a diaper.  She really needed to go.  We gave her more liquids.

Then at six, the dam burst.  She dribbled, we took her to the potty, and she sat down and made a big, real pee.  This was a first!  We got so excited that we offered her some leftover birthday cake.  I didn't want to start the reward thing again after the problems we had before with rewards, so we told her that the cake was a celebration, not a reward, and that we would not be giving her any more cake for peeing.  She was fine with that.  About 3 minutes later, she did another huge pee.  Then 5 minutes later, another.  I stopped counting after a while, but I'd guess she did about 7 large pees in the potty between 6 and 8pm.  She also made one more poo.  Most of the time, the need to pee was signaled by a dribble down the leg, but once she said, MOMMY PEE PEE PEE PEE PEE!  And another time she just went on her own.

I'd say Day 1 was a great success!  I think this is going to work.  Stay tuned...