Using the Potty

We've had Abby's "big girl" potty out for a few months now. She's shown slight interest, but has never been too big into it. We think she's fully capable of being potty trained in the next couple of months, so we just decided to go for it and test the waters. We want to have a couple of weeks with plenty of time to focus on it. That leaves either now or Christmas break.

So, three days ago, we bought her some training pants. So long diapers! (except for naps). The first day (Wednesday) she was only in the training pants for a few hours since we bought them in the afternoon. We rolled up the carpet in the living room (sometimes having hard wood floors is just awesome). She had a few accidents, but we were learning (how often she goes, how much, etc.).

On Thursday, she went once or twice on the potty, but had plenty of accidents. But, the most important thing was that she was recognizing that it was not a good thing when she had an accident. In her diapers, she would pee, and we wouldn't even know about it (although in the past few weeks, she has been telling us right after she pees or poops). So, it was hard to convince her to pee on the potty.

When she does have an accident, we just do the "awww, man! Bummer. Next time tell us when you have to go, ok?" routine. It seems to work well. And she really seemed to understand that day that she should be peeing on the potty. She also figured out on Thursday that she REALLY likes M&M's (she gets one when she goes pee and two when she poops on the potty).

Then came today. I had class this morning, so she went over to Grandma and Grandpa's house. Apparently she was very interested in the potty (she wanted those M&M's darnit!). She did manage a few drops of pee.

But, when she got home, it's like something clicked. She had an accident (poop). After we cleaned that up, she said she had to poop again. Sure enough, pee AND poop! Hooray!!!! Three M&M's!! A new record! There were high fives, hugs, and kisses all around.

After that excitement, apparently she was ready for more. 15 minutes later, more poop! (although it was only a little bit). Then a couple hours later, more pee on the potty! Hooray!

She did have a couple of accidents still today, but we're feeling pretty good about the potty training. We still have two full weeks before she goes back to school. We're really hoping she's pretty well trained by the time she goes back. But, even if she's not, we've already learned and she's already advanced A TON in just the last couple of days.

Keep it up Abby!