Not so Many Adventures in Potty Training

Little Miss was potty trained in 48 hours.

I know some of you right now don't believe me, others are jealous, and others are dying to know my secret. Here's all I got - she's smart, and God is merciful! lol

Seriously.

Here's the deal. I've been dreading potty-training since I was pregnant. It was always this huge, lurking milestone ready to drop on my head like an anvil. It went against every single one of my OCD, Type A, neat-freak tendencies. If there had been a potty training boot camp I could have sent her to like obedience school for dogs, she would have been there, paid up, on the first row.

I put it off for months, taking the slower-is-better approach of putting her on the potty once a day before her nightlty bath, all the while making excuses as to why we couldn't really get started and do it "for real". (my excuses included I wasn't home enough days in a row to give her consistency, my mom who watches her two days a week didn't have the training seat yet for her house, etc. etc. etc.)

As it turns out, maybe those excuses worked in my favor because when I finally bit that bullet, she was READY.

About a week and half ago on Thursday, Little Miss asked me to change her diaper, which she had barely wet, twice in one hour. I finally got fed up and said "here" and stuck her in a pair of slightly lined/padded training panties. NOT PULL-UPS (mothers, hear me! NOT PULLUPS!) Then I held my breath and away we went.

That day we had several "tinkle" accidents. Each time she wet her panties, she'd immediately panic and tell me and run for the potty. AND FINISH GOING IN THE POTTY. I thought that was huge. She could stop going, wait, and finish where she was supposed to. That day, every time she sat on the couch with me, I'd make her sit on a towel just in case. She didn't mind. I got lucky that night, she didn't go #2 until later when she was in a diaper (her last one) because we had gone to Walmart to buy pull-ups. I dodged the poopoo bullet for the first day. Ha!

Second day, much of the same. A few tinkle accidents though not nearly as many. Not even half. I put her on the potty every 1-2 hours despite her occasional protests, and she tinkled every single time. At Walmart the night before, I had bought a Princess calendar to hang in her room and a bunch of stickers. Every time she went in the potty, she got a sticker to put on a calendar page. She was ecstatic about this, and it definitely kept her motivated (but I honestly think she would have been anyway because she did not like having messy panties. At one point she apologized to her panties for getting them wet and making them "sad")

She had a #2 accident Friday night in her training panties, which she didn't like. Again, she stopped when she realized what had happened, called for me, ran to the bathroom, and finished in the potty. Amazing! I was praising God by now for that particular blessing (and yet still gagging as I dealt with the mess)

You know what? That was her last accident. Starting Saturday, I stopped telling her when to go and she started telling me when she needed to, and we've been accident free since. For awhile she wore pull ups when we went out to shop or to church etc. but I stopped that, since she got to the point of willingly telling her nursery workers and her mother's day out teachers that she needed to go. Now she only wears pull-ups to sleep, which is perfectly fine with me. We'll keep that going for a long time, since her waking up dry is usually 50/50. No need to stress either of us over that when she's done so well.

So, my worst nightmare was actually a huge blessing that had me praising God for His mercy. I honestly feel this was something special He did for us, to give us a break.

So, my secrets? Prayer. A smart kid who is READY to train and not being forced to do so too early. Wearing panties instead of pull-ups (though it's messier initially for Mom to deal with, it teaches them so much faster because honestly the pull-ups are still very much like diapers to them in regards to texture and absorbancy) And more prayer. :)

Did I mention praying?

My adventures in potty training turned out to be not so adventurous, and I'm ecstatic. Little Miss has a drawer full of happy Dora panties and a calendar full of stickers, and I have a heart full of gratitude and healthy mommy-pride. :)