Alright, so, time for a potty training update. We have been at this for a week now, and, dare I say it... Riley is (pretty much) potty trained! Hoooooorrrrraaaaayy! Now, let me go back... In the past 4 days, Riley has had a total of TWO pee accidents, and one poo in her underwear. One time was today- she peed in the car seat on the way home from swimming, but in her defense, she did tell Mark she needed to pee but she was buckled in and on her way home, and she peed twice in the potty right after they got home, so she really really had to go and she was trying! The other accident was on day 4- and it basically happened because she was running to tell me she needed to pee rather than just hopping on the potty, so she half peed on the floor, half on the potty.
The bigger development is that she recognizes when she needs to pee, stops what she's doing, and goes to sit on the potty. All without me telling her to. I still suggest she go use the potty throughout the day if she hasn't gone in a while, but I trust that if she says "no" that she doesn't really need to go. We've gone on several outings where she has used the potty before we left, stayed dry the whole time, and peed when we got home. She also has pulled herself together mid tantrum to go and sit on the potty. I've been totally impressed!
Someone has decided she prefers to go "au naturale" these days... but with shoes. Must. have. shoes.
Now, onto pooping. She went days 4 and 5 without pooping whatsoever, and then woke up in the night with a dirty diaper. Not ideal, but better than on the floor I guess? The following day she pooped in her underwear, which was less than pleasant, but actually much better than when she pooped on the floor! And then this morning, she pooped on the potty all by herself!! I was getting worried that she was going to have some aversion to pooping on the potty (as many kids do), but that may not be the case, so we'll see.
SO. Things I think worked/helped Riley in this process.
(1) Being totally naked at first, but also getting used to wearing underwear and taking them off.
(2) Marshmallows!! Her reward for using the potty.
(3) Praise. Lots and lots of praise for her accomplishments. Telling her how proud we are and what a great job she's doing, etc etc...
(4) Preparing her in advance for this- just talking about it, letting her get used to using the potty and seeing us use the toilet as well.
(5) Asking her frequently if she needed to use the potty, then slowly tapering off how much we were asking her/telling her so that she could figure it out on her own.
(6) Trying to get her to sit on the potty as much as possible the first day or two, even if that meant extra TV time.
(1) Being totally naked at first, but also getting used to wearing underwear and taking them off.
(2) Marshmallows!! Her reward for using the potty.
(3) Praise. Lots and lots of praise for her accomplishments. Telling her how proud we are and what a great job she's doing, etc etc...
(4) Preparing her in advance for this- just talking about it, letting her get used to using the potty and seeing us use the toilet as well.
(5) Asking her frequently if she needed to use the potty, then slowly tapering off how much we were asking her/telling her so that she could figure it out on her own.
(6) Trying to get her to sit on the potty as much as possible the first day or two, even if that meant extra TV time.
Things that didn't work that well
(1) The sticker chart. She liked it the first day, but we stopped using it after that. Probably because she plays with stickers all the time so getting a sticker wasn't that awesome of a treat, and not sure if she totally understood the concept and the delayed gratification behind the sticker chart.
(2) Taking her on an outing the first day- probably wasn't our smartest move, but no permanent damage was done so oh well.
(3) Getting frustrated. I knew going into this that there would (and still will be) challenges. I told myself that if she has accidents, the most important thing is not to get mad or frustrated with her. We've done a very good job of that, but it is frustrating sometimes when I'm trying to get us out of the house and trying to get her to pee before we go, and she just won't do it. There have been times when I've gotten frustrated and tried to tell her she HAS to sit on the potty, and it really doesn't help at all- she just gets mad and refuses. Definitely can't force her to use the potty!
(4) The potty seat that goes on the toilet. So far she hasn't ever used it. She'll sit on it, but she's never peed on the toilet, so at some point we're going to need to work on that. It's not like I can drag our little potty with us everywhere we go!
Obviously that's just our experience... she's done extremely well and hopefully she continues to do so! Can't believe my baby is using the potty (and thank god for not having two babies in diapers anymore!)
(1) The sticker chart. She liked it the first day, but we stopped using it after that. Probably because she plays with stickers all the time so getting a sticker wasn't that awesome of a treat, and not sure if she totally understood the concept and the delayed gratification behind the sticker chart.
(2) Taking her on an outing the first day- probably wasn't our smartest move, but no permanent damage was done so oh well.
(3) Getting frustrated. I knew going into this that there would (and still will be) challenges. I told myself that if she has accidents, the most important thing is not to get mad or frustrated with her. We've done a very good job of that, but it is frustrating sometimes when I'm trying to get us out of the house and trying to get her to pee before we go, and she just won't do it. There have been times when I've gotten frustrated and tried to tell her she HAS to sit on the potty, and it really doesn't help at all- she just gets mad and refuses. Definitely can't force her to use the potty!
(4) The potty seat that goes on the toilet. So far she hasn't ever used it. She'll sit on it, but she's never peed on the toilet, so at some point we're going to need to work on that. It's not like I can drag our little potty with us everywhere we go!
Obviously that's just our experience... she's done extremely well and hopefully she continues to do so! Can't believe my baby is using the potty (and thank god for not having two babies in diapers anymore!)
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