Potty Trials V 2.4
After re-reading my little guest post over at That Mama Gretchen, I realized it was time for another potty trials update. I mean, one of my big goals was to get Honeygirl fully potty trained.
There were definitely times when I felt like that would never happen.
For Honeygirl, one unsuspecting day suddenly became a major turning point. I don't remember the date, just that Sweet Pea had successfully taken care of business moments before. I remember telling her she was such a big girl. Honeygirl quickly hopped on the toilet next and asked, "Are me a big girl?" Oh, girly. I told her that big girls use the toilet and keep their panties dry. And that's all it took. There was no way my strong willed little girl was going to let her little sister attain "big girl" status before her. So, apparently, Honeygirl decided to step up to the plate. The accidents that had still been happening several times a week suddenly stopped. And she decided she was ready to be done with her Super Undies at night too. Here I had thought that the nighttime thing was strictly a developmental thing. But apparently not. After a week of dryness, I consented to her ditching them for good. And all of the sudden, we were done. After over 18 months of struggling, she got it. Or made up her mind to get it. But at any rate, the transformation happened and I gained my first "big girl" at our house.
Because things had been rather rough with Honeygirl, I figured I should just settle in for a long drawn out battle with Sweet Pea as well. Interestingly, Sweet Pea was a breeze. I think I've said it before, but my reading surrounding potty training methods has pretty much been ongoing for almost two years now. Somewhere along the way, I read about the benefits of training your child between 18-24 months. I know there are tons of people out there who believe you should wait until your child is ready, which may not be until they are three years old, or more. But I really think that a big part of it is that the parent(s) need to be ready. And since potty training was such an ordeal with Honeygirl, I was up for trying almost anything with Sweet Pea. I mean, there weren't many methods out there that we hadn't attempted at least somehow.
I had been doing little things with Sweet Pea for quite awhile. The little potty chair had been in the bathroom most of her life. So she was very familiar with it. And she had been sitting on the toilet before bathtime for awhile already. So when she hit 21 months, I decided to jump in with both feet. I mean, the worst that could happen was that it would be a colossal fail. And I felt like I was already quite acquainted with that option. So one day, we put the diapers away. And never. looked. back. I tried to embrace the idea that "accidents are opportunities to learn." And we did some serious learning in the first few days or so. I also got my hands on some daytime Super Undies, which I blogged about here. And made some trainers for her that I blogged about here. But really, within a couple weeks, she was doing incredibly well. And by the end of the first month, puddles weren't happening that much at all.
About a month ago, right about Sweet Pea's 2nd birthday, we got to our mom's group and I realized I had forgotten the bag with spare clothes and underware. My first reaction was to get back in the car and go home. But then I realized that we hadn't been needing anything from the bag usually anyway. Wow. What a different experience. Shockingly, my littler big girl has graduated from training pants to "the real thing," complete with Dora all over. She takes care of ALL her business on the toilet (for the most part). And it's only been four months since we started this process. Nighttime dryness could take two years and I would still be happy.
So except for a couple diapers that are still out for naptime, all our squishy cloth diapers are packed away safely under Honeygirl's bed, waiting for another bum to cover. And our Potty Trials are completed.
There were definitely times when I felt like that would never happen.
For Honeygirl, one unsuspecting day suddenly became a major turning point. I don't remember the date, just that Sweet Pea had successfully taken care of business moments before. I remember telling her she was such a big girl. Honeygirl quickly hopped on the toilet next and asked, "Are me a big girl?" Oh, girly. I told her that big girls use the toilet and keep their panties dry. And that's all it took. There was no way my strong willed little girl was going to let her little sister attain "big girl" status before her. So, apparently, Honeygirl decided to step up to the plate. The accidents that had still been happening several times a week suddenly stopped. And she decided she was ready to be done with her Super Undies at night too. Here I had thought that the nighttime thing was strictly a developmental thing. But apparently not. After a week of dryness, I consented to her ditching them for good. And all of the sudden, we were done. After over 18 months of struggling, she got it. Or made up her mind to get it. But at any rate, the transformation happened and I gained my first "big girl" at our house.
Because things had been rather rough with Honeygirl, I figured I should just settle in for a long drawn out battle with Sweet Pea as well. Interestingly, Sweet Pea was a breeze. I think I've said it before, but my reading surrounding potty training methods has pretty much been ongoing for almost two years now. Somewhere along the way, I read about the benefits of training your child between 18-24 months. I know there are tons of people out there who believe you should wait until your child is ready, which may not be until they are three years old, or more. But I really think that a big part of it is that the parent(s) need to be ready. And since potty training was such an ordeal with Honeygirl, I was up for trying almost anything with Sweet Pea. I mean, there weren't many methods out there that we hadn't attempted at least somehow.
I had been doing little things with Sweet Pea for quite awhile. The little potty chair had been in the bathroom most of her life. So she was very familiar with it. And she had been sitting on the toilet before bathtime for awhile already. So when she hit 21 months, I decided to jump in with both feet. I mean, the worst that could happen was that it would be a colossal fail. And I felt like I was already quite acquainted with that option. So one day, we put the diapers away. And never. looked. back. I tried to embrace the idea that "accidents are opportunities to learn." And we did some serious learning in the first few days or so. I also got my hands on some daytime Super Undies, which I blogged about here. And made some trainers for her that I blogged about here. But really, within a couple weeks, she was doing incredibly well. And by the end of the first month, puddles weren't happening that much at all.
About a month ago, right about Sweet Pea's 2nd birthday, we got to our mom's group and I realized I had forgotten the bag with spare clothes and underware. My first reaction was to get back in the car and go home. But then I realized that we hadn't been needing anything from the bag usually anyway. Wow. What a different experience. Shockingly, my littler big girl has graduated from training pants to "the real thing," complete with Dora all over. She takes care of ALL her business on the toilet (for the most part). And it's only been four months since we started this process. Nighttime dryness could take two years and I would still be happy.
So except for a couple diapers that are still out for naptime, all our squishy cloth diapers are packed away safely under Honeygirl's bed, waiting for another bum to cover. And our Potty Trials are completed.
This iis awesome
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