Potty Training

17 months and starting potty training

I think I can honestly say that our young 3 year old is officially potty trained. We started at 17 months (November 2010) putting her on her potty chair before her baths because she loved to squat and pee-pee right on my bathroom mat...ICK!! Then, we pursued it for awhile until my back started hurting that January.

20 months and sitting on her potty

We started again in April 2011. She did well but it was still hard at times for me to be able to help her. Next, came my pregnancy, so obviously potty training was not a focus for the first few months. Then, in December 2012 I realized we needed to get her trained before we got her into her big bed and before the baby came in late March.



her first night in her big girl bed :)

So off we went! My Mom came for a little bit and helped get her really going as we switched to panties (It's all or none with this girl!). From then on we made progress. She was pee-pee trained, but the boom-boom (love the wording right!?!?!) training was a PAIN! She was all drama about the boom-boom. It had gone on the floor one time...and I learned never to be upset about an accident from that point on...and it was forever a tramatic event. She'd go to sneak a diaper, put it on and go in it just so she didn't have to go boom-boom on the potty. If we caught her in time, she'd sit on the potty for HOURS!!! She'd just hold it in as long as she could. Oh the whining! It was craziness.

Just recently we came home from a week vacation in Ohio and something changed. Suddenly she came and said she had to go, got on and pushed it out (sorry...a little grusome for some of you! hahahaha!). Now, she goes multiple times! Naps are normally accident free, but the final step was GOING TO CHURCH WITH PANTIES ON!!! She went twice at church this past Sunday! So...I feel free to say that my little baby girl is growing up...she's potty trained :) YAY!

Now...it will be a little bit of time to tackle the night-night time pull-up...but hey...we conquered the hard part :)
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Potty Training? 

Here are some things that helped our family:
  -Potty Training Your Child in Just ONE Day by Teri Crane (this is especially great if you are starting when they are older!)
  -From the suggestion of the above book, we showed her baby doll going pee-pee in the potty (by holding a water bottle squirter behind her) and praised her for going potty! I never did the accident thing with the doll because she was still pretty young then and didn't understand much.
  -We read the kid's book Big Girls Use the Potty. It was a great visual for her of what a potty was and what we do on it.
  -We taught Leona the signs for poop, diaper, and potty/toilet. (We never got to use it, but plan to with our little guy: Potty Time by Signing Time.) Signing really helped with starting at an early age so they could understand.
  -I taught her all of her letters from the potty. We hung an alphabet strip and we went over them every time we went.
  -We sang a lot of songs and signed to some of them.
  -We also practiced our signing on the potty. Great way to keep a toddler entertained and learning!
  -There is also a book by the Baby Wise author called Potty Wise. I bet that is a great book too! We didn't use it, but will probably read it before James is at that stage.