Potty Boot Camp

I have been talking about it for a while, so the weekend finally came. We attempted a "potty boot camp" at our house for Sadie & I can say that we had our ups & downs!

 

She started showing signs of wanting to potty train before Sophie was born. Some of those signs include telling us when she was going to the bathroom or telling us right after she went to the bathroom. And sometimes she even went to the bathroom & patted the toilet. Then she started taking off her diaper whenever it was dirty. I mean we could be in public & she would pull down her pants, take off her diaper & hand it to one of us. That's right, she also knew how to take her pants off & put them back on. She especially loved doing this during her nap or at night :( She just couldn't stand being in a wet diaper. I also noticed that she was holding for long periods of time. Obviously, she has a dirty diaper when I get her up in the morning, but normally, she doesn't pee again until lunchtime or after. And there have been lots of naps where she didn't go at all.

 

Of course we were hesitant to potty train her with a newborn, so we tried our best to hold off. Eventually, we started using pull ups & we treated them like "big girl panties" because she could put them on & take them off herself. Plus they are pink & have Dora on them, so she couldn't be happier! Luckily, that helped slow down the potty training momentum for a couple of months until we found the time to commit to it.

 

We thought that time was this past weekend. We had absolutely no plans & since it is spring break this week, I knew it would be the perfect time for us to spend a lot of time at the house practicing. Plus, I was hoping to do it while the weather is still kind of dreary because before we know it we will be outside everyday playing & won't have time to potty train!

 

We started on Friday & the day went much better than I ever anticipated. She only had 2 accidents but she went in her new Minnie Mouse toilet 4 times by herself! We praised her like crazy & she got m&m's every time she did it. She was so excited! Granted, we still did the pull up for her nap & bedtime, but I thought that was a successful day! On Saturday, she only went twice - once was an accident & once in the toilet. Still not bad, huh? The problem I discovered, is that we were doing what everyone told us & everything we read. We were taking her the bathroom all day & we made her sit on the toilet for long stretches of time while she read a book or played with a toy. So when she went, it was because we had directed her, not because she felt the urge to go. So, push forward to Sunday - we go to church & go on with our day like normal. We ask her all day if she needs to go & she really didn't act like she wanted to. She just wanted to wear her diaper.

 

So, moral of the story, I think we had a window of time where she was very impressionable & we should have potty trained then. But since we waited & moved her to pull ups, I think she is content for the time being. I think we will continue practicing around the house, but I don't think she will be officially potty trained in the near future. We will wait & see when she is ready again :)

 

Unfortunately, I didn't take a lot of pictures this weekend, because we basically spent the entire weekend at home with her running around naked or sitting on her toilet. And I'm not really ready to share those images with the rest of the world! But I did capture a sweet moment of my 2 girls laying in bed Saturday night:

 

 

Both of the girls had their baths that night & they smelled so good & looked so sweet :) We laid in our bed & sang songs before they went to sleep. It was probably my favorite moment of the entire weekend!