So fast forward to 2014. I honestly had no intention of really initiating any sort of training since seester Liza is still so teeny tiny. But Ms. Jessika at Tiny School one day asked us how potty training was going at home...and my response? "Oh we put her on the potty throughout the day (lie) but she just doesn't go. She doesn't have accidents, but she doesn't go either (half-truth...an accident in a diaper isn't considered an accident, right?)".
Ok friends, I lied. I panicked under the pressure that oh my gosh is everyone else potty training in class already and my kid is the only one still in diapers? And I fibbed the truth a bit. The truth is, I would daily put Charley in her diapers and maybe 3-5 times throughout the day put her on the potty. Here were the problems with this:
1) mommy was being lazy and opting for a diaper rather than panties because, well duh, it's easier to throw away a diaper than clean pee all day.
2) mommy was not letting Char "feel" what it's like to feel her pee and be successful.
3) mommy was inadvertently telling charley that it was ok for her to pee in her pants even though that was the opposite of our goal.
When Ms. Jessika and I were talking, she suggested bringing Charley to school on Wednesday in panties. Panties? At school? I was frantic! (especially since Charley only goes to school on Monday and Wednesday...meaning I had one full day to prep!)
As soon as we got home on Monday night we threw the diaper out, and put on panties, fully expecting lots of accidents and piles of laundry! Since then, we haven't turned back! (We do put diapers on for naps, nighttime, and extended trips out of the house).
Here are "The Chronicles of Potty Training"
-the time Charley came running into the kitchen with a soaking wet shirt front and said "potty". We ran to find the inevitable puddle, only to be puzzled by pee-foot-prints leading to an empty potty. Charley kept exclaiming, "Bowl! Bowl!", then continued to pick up Addison's (the dog!) food bowl to which she poured out a large amount of pee. Yup, she peed in the dog bowl.
-the time we didn't make it to the potty fast enough and pooped in the panties. Then mommy proceeded to pull the pooped in panties down her legs, smearing the said poop all over the said legs! :( THEN, mommy accidentally spilled the turds on the back of the potty chair! A load of sh!t + being everywhere = mommy sayin lots of "@$:!@$!" type of words!
-the time Charley was curled up next to mommy on the couch and peed. On the couch.
-the time we were playing on the floor with Mickey Mouse toys and Charley kept saying, "Momma, Mickey bath?" while she dipped him into the puddle of pee she was sitting in.
-the same time ^^^ she also dipped her hands into the pee and made back and forth swaying and clapping motions in the pee!
-the time I put Char on the bathroom counter with me so I could get ready for the day and she peed all over the counter.
-the time Charley said, "daddy, poo poo potty" and then really pooped in the potty!!!
-and all the other times she has successfully told us "potty" and went either pee or poop!
...and all that's just been within the last week! It was a week ago Monday we threw those diapers to the wind! At first I seriously wanted to cry and just put a dang diaper on, but by golly, it's a very rewarding and freeing experience to flush the poop down the potty rather than stuff yet another gross diaper in the diaper genie!
We still have a ways to go to meet mastery (having 1-2 accidents a day), but I feel confident for the first time that my child won't go to kindergarten in diapers ;). And for that, I must thank Ms. Jessika!
***also, just a side note, rewards work like a charm for our little chubster! She knows when she goes potty she gets "chocley", or chocolate...just a tiny bowl of m&m's! And daddy also gives her money...a few coins to put in her bank.
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