I wrote another potty training update a few weeks ago and thought I saved it as a draft, but I couldn't find it the other day. Oops. Now we are almost one month into potty training and things are going really well. We have had 5 days with NO ACCIDENTS at all. Several other days she has only had one pee accident. We have made it through a church service and a birthday dinner (Poppy's) in fancy dresses and tights with no accidents! We've been to Miss Katy's house twice all day with only one accident on each of those days. The only thing I haven't been brave enough to try with her is a half day at "church school" aka Parent's Day Out. Emily doesn't talk much to her teachers there so I'm not sure how well she would communicate her potty needs. Also, the bathroom is down the hallway and she has to sit on a "big girl" toilet (which of course she has had to do when I'm out and about with her, but it still makes it harder for her.) Anyway, she has more accidents in the 4 hrs. at parent's day out class while wearing her pull-ups than she does all week at home. Her teacher encouraged us to give it a try next week without the pull-ups and we will see how it goes. We still use pull-ups for naps and bedtime. Sometimes she wakes up from her naps pretty dry so we may be able to ditch the nap time pull-up in another month or so. I think we will be using a pull-up at night for a long time.
Emily has really gotten so much better at taking herself to the bathroom. I no longer have to set a timer and she pretty much takes herself when she has to go. I still have to insist that she go to the potty before we leave the house which sometimes doesn't go over so well! :) She likes to be alone for her poopoos. She frequently tells me, "I do it MYSELF!" I keep the door cracked and I can listen for her in the other room for when it is time to check on her and wipe her. She is very proud of herself when she makes her big poops in the potty! Our reward system is still in place, but now she doesn't need positive reinforcement every time. Most of the time, she gets a small piece of candy. Occasionally, I also give her a big sticker to add to her potty chart which is getting quite full! When we are all really happy, we do our "PeePee in the Potty" song and dance. Sometimes she initiates it on her own which is hilarious.
The best reward is not having to buy diapers! We only go through two pull-ups a day at most. I love that! However, I don't love packing clean clothes wherever we go. I always keep something in Emily's bag, but I think it would be helpful to also put an extra outfit in the car, too. For anyone seriously thinking about potty training, getting rid of the pull-ups is what works. It is way too much like a diaper for them to notice any difference or change their habits. I knew that this was what was recommended, but it just took awhile to work out several free days in my schedule to initiate the potty training. Also, it was around Christmas time when Emily really started to act like she was ready and of course that was not ideal due to all of our travels, special events, and general holiday busyness.
I'm so proud of our big girl. We still have room for improvement and consistency, but overall it is going very well! Good job, Emmy!
Waking up from nap. A little sleepy-eyed.
Reading material--Calico Critters wish list.
Emily's sticker chart. There is no rhyme or reason to sticker placement as you can see. She puts them wherever she wants!
Great job, Emily! Spare clothes in the trunk can be very useful - and later when she doesn't need the lil potty at home, I always found it handy to keep the potty in the trunk too so I could panic less when someone suddenly needed to GO and we weren't near a good, clean potty. (The trick is to keep TP and the lil diaper throw-away bags in the potty to catch the pee, then you can just tie it off and throw away!)
ReplyDelete-Karen M.