Potty Training-Day 1

I'm going to apologize in advance if I bore any of you with the next few posts. I just thought it might be helpful information for anyone going through this stage now or in the future, so bear with me!

I'm not really sure if there is a "right" age for potty training a child. Gabe was asking me the other day what age is considered "late" and I honestly don't know....4? So really, I had no idea when to start training Avery or anything.

When we went for Avery's 2 year appointment I asked her pediatrician about potty training. He told me that there is a window between 2 and 2 1/2 that you can train them very easily. He said typically once they reach 2 1/2 they're harder to train because they get very set in their ways at that age. So introducing something like this gets harder to do. So he basically said if you can catch that window, to go with it.

I'd say back in early to mid August Avery really started showing more readiness signs to potty train. For awhile she has said when she poops, but this was different. It started when we were ready to go outside one day and she goes "I pooped my diaper. Change diaper." and ran into the other room, threw herself on the floor, and basically was begging to be changed. And when I changed her, she didn't poop...she had peed. This became a trend-she didn't do it every time she peed, but she did it at least once a day. I also noticed that when she was sitting in her chair at dinner, if something got her seat wet, she would flip out wanting it cleaned up and to be out of her chair. I started thinking "is this the sign I should be looking for?"

Don't get me wrong-I'm in no rush to train her. Diapers are easy-I can take her out anywhere and she really isn't bothered by them. My thought process was this-she'll be 2 1/2 right after Christmas (the age when according to her doc it becomes harder to train). Early November we'll be moving-new house, new bedroom, new bed for Avery (LOTS of changes for her to come). I'm due for baby #2 in January (another HUGE change for her). Between the move and the baby is all of the chaos of the holidays. I didn't want to introduce training her then-it's just too much going on for her in just a few short months. And I know once the baby arrives, I'm not going to have my full attention on Avery anymore (*sniff sniff*) and it would probably be a dragged out process at that point.

So, I decided now was the time.

This weekend is my last 4 day weekend for months. We had nothing planned, so I decided this would be the weekend for it.

I followed the 3 day potty training method. Well, most of it at least. It's an e-book that you can buy online (I got mine from a friend).

Basically, you purge any diapers you have and put them right in underwear. They wear a t-shirt and undies for 3 days straight. Ideally, you do not leave the house and the child is by your side every waking minute. When you catch them "in the act", you rush them to the toilet. It's all positive reinforcement and putting the child in charge of training. You don't sit them at designated time intervals or anything-the child dictates when they have to go. No using pull-ups or anything.

I will say I was dreading being homebound for 3 whole days, but I was also anxious to see how things would go.

I started Friday afternoon after her nap. I wanted to get out Friday morning and take her to story time and have something to do that day so I figured after nap we would start things. She woke up after her nap and I brought her downstairs. We made a big deal out of her picking out the underwear she wanted to wear for the day and praising her for being such a big girl.

Then the games began and I followed her around until bedtime, giving her reminders every 5mins or so ("are your undies dry?" "tell me if you have to go potty"). The girl is part camel I'm pretty sure because she didn't pee until 4 hours after her nap-so right before bedtime! In fact, she was in her bedroom and we were getting her PJs and stuff out when it happened. I ran her to the toilet but she had already finished going at that point. We made a big deal about her underwear being wet and "yucky" now and that they needed to be changed.

Now the reason I'm only doing part of this method is that I'm not training her at naptime or night time yet. Honestly, she pees so much at nap and overnight that there's no way she would stay dry yet. I'm just aiming for daytime, awake training right now. Sleeping times will come at some other time!

So, day one (or half a day) is done-only one accident! Keep posted for the rest of the days!

Just as a note-I did take some super cute pics of her modeling her new undies, but didn't want to post them on here just in case....ya never know who's looking at these things! So the next few posts will mostly be photo-free (sorry!).

Oh, and if you have any questions, please ask! I'm more than willing to share my experience with you!