Potty Training

We took advantage of a week off from school for Spring Break to tackle potty training Ainsley. Because you know, when you're in college you go to the beach or skiing for spring break... and when you're the mom of a toddler and actually need a vacation, you lock yourself indoors, talk only about potty behavior, ask the question "tell mommy if you have to go potty, ok?" a thousand times, and clean up a lot of messes. Seems fair, right? Ugh. Truthfully it has been exhausting but so rewarding at the same time. She is just so, so proud of herself when she goes potty and that is so sweet to see.

We used the book '3 Day Potty Training' and weren't expecting to be done in 3 days but knew it would get us off to a good start. Ainsley was showing most of the physical signs of readiness but hadn't really shown much interest until about a week before when we really started hyping up how awesome big girl panties are. She took the bait. I had a basket of panties waiting for her and each night the week before we started she would go through them and get so, so excited. Below she is waving around the first pair she picked out to wear on day one! She is beyond thrilled! My girl loves clothes.


Day One: This felt like the longest day because it was all so new to her. We woke up, ate breakfast, let her pick her first pair of big girl panties to wear, "threw away" all of her diapers (she was so meticulous that she even took away all her baby dolls diapers and threw them away too!) - although they are really just in the closet, put her potty seat on the potty, and then proceeded to remind her to tell us if she had to go potty ever few minutes. Here she is throwing away all her diapers.


From the start she did well recognizing when she needed to go but had trouble making it to the potty. Her first success was at 11 am and I was just as excited as she was. Literally jumping up and down and screaming and clapping with her. The look on her face was priceless - pure pride and joy! We rewarded her with a gummy bear and sticker on a chart that counts up to a magic hat grab bag (full of $1 Target finds). After this initial "click" she did really really well the rest of the day, making it in the potty almost every time!! She even stayed dry throughout nap! The first day she also did a lot of checking out her new panties. She would also check out her reflection in the mirror, stove, and glass door! Ha!


Day Two: More pantless fun and felt pretty encouraging again even though it took all morning and several accidents for it to "click" again. But like the day before, around noon she got it again and did really well for the rest of the day. She managed to stay dry for her whole nap even though it was much shorter than normal and she had several of her first small poos in the potty this night!!


Her potty chart in the middle of day two!


Day Three: She woke up dry from the night and seemed to get it right off the bat this am with no accidents, which was huge! But she wiggled and wiggled and refused to sit on the potty and then had a big poo in her panties this afternoon. The sweet girl said that pooping in the potty was hard, as in difficult.


So not accomplished in three days but still awesome. The rest of the week felt soooooo long as I didn't leave her side for more than a few minutes. I was so thankful for the warmer/dry weather so that we could be outside. And we were successfully able to venture out for swim lessons and a few small errands towards the end of the week. She has peeing down great and will go without being prompted but going poo has had its ups and downs. She went once in the potty on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday and Sunday night I was bragging on her that I thought she had it. Then of course on Monday she pooed in her pants three different times. Arg! But she kept her panties dry all day at school today and then pooed in the potty twice this afternoon and evening, so who knows. Do I dare say that maybe she's getting it afterall. :)


And just to embarrass him in years to come, Ainsley isn't the only fan of her new panties! Bailey has been quite fond of them as well. He has had lots of fun pulling them in and out of their bin and has even tried to put them on his head. Silly lil guy!