It's potty time

Oh yes folks. We decided it was time. Lainey had recently become textbook "resistant" to potty training. And I mean that literally. Here is an excerpt from Pediatric Advisor 2006.4, written by B.D. Schmitt, M.D.:

"There are some children who are resistant to toilet training. Your child is considered resistant if after trying to toilet train your child:

- Your child is over 2 1/2 years old and has a negative attitude about toilet training.

- Your child is over 3 years old and not daytime toilet trained.

- Your child won't sit on the potty or toilet."

Yup...our doctor gave us this information on a handout about toilet training when I told them about Lainey and how lately she'd been really resistant to not only the potty but to having her diaper changed. I mentioned that we were thinking about doing that "naked weekend" every parent with toddlers reads about. Our pediatrician agreed, gave us some tips and the handout and I went home and told Troy we were trying it this weekend. 

So over the past week I began talking up this "potty party" weekend. Lainey was kind of confused, especially since she'd just had her birthday party. "Another party? Can my friends come watch me open more presents?" "Um...it's not quite like that sweetie. This is just a party at home with us and we will teach you how to use the potty. But there will be treats! And surprises!" "Yeah, and my birthday cake!" Um...

We made a run to Target on Friday and I stocked up on some things from the dollar section and grabbed a couple of packs of M&Ms. Then I went to BJ's for Lysol spray & wipes. We were ready. We decided we were going to do our 3 days on Saturday - Monday since Troy can't be "off" on a weekday and I knew I'd need more help on days 1 & 2 than day 3. Friday night I got the extra waterproof mattress pad that we had from Lainey's old crib mattress and a couple of beach towels and set it up along with her Fisher Price singing potty downstairs. I stuck the leftover juice boxes from her birthday party in the fridge and fund a printable potty chart on Pinterest. 

Saturday morning when Lainey got up around 6:30 we made a big deal about going in her room to take off her last diaper. I even let her put it in the diaper genie. I put her in just a t-shirt and explained that she wouldn't be wearing pants today and asked if she wanted to throw away the last of her diapers. That was when she flipped out. She demanded a diaper. She wanted pants. And she definitely did not want to throw out her diapers.

I was a bit worried this was foreshadowing for the day but we managed to hustle her downstairs with the promised distraction of breakfast. Then things definitely improved. We had a very normal morning except that she was sans pants and had to constantly sit on a towel. By about 10, I was super bored. She hadn't peed and I hadn't showered or dressed or anything because I felt like I needed to be there when she went to the bathroom for the first time. Harper went down for her morning nap and I decided this would be a good time to get out the art supplies. Lainey and Troy and I all painted and I realized that Lainey & I are about on the same artistic level while Troy is a regular Bob Ross. Behold his dolphin & flower compared to my snail & sun:

So we're sitting there painting and all of a sudden, I hear the sound of water hitting the floor and Lainey looks up surprised and said, "Mom, I'm going pee pee!" I told her to get on the potty and she did and finished peeing and her potty sang and she got excited and did a little dance. Then we wiped, went to the powder room to dump the pee, I let her flush and we washed our hands. She was really excited when I to,d her she could have a piece of candy and a sticker on her potty chart. It was like it all clicked for her and the rest of the day, she peed in the potty all on her own. I didn't even have to keep asking her if she needed to or even be in the room. She would just go get on it when she needed to pee and call out, "Mom, I'm going pee pee!" Our only mishap came after lunch. Troy & I were in the kitchen cleaning up and she had gone to play in the playroom when she came in the kitchen with this distressed look and said, "I just pooped!" Indeed...there was a turd on the floor. But we cleaned it up and told her it was no problem...we'll just work on that next time and she was fine the rest of the day! She filled her potty chart and got to choose a prize and was super excited. 

I was so excited for her that during the afternoon, I went in her room and took all the diapers out and moved them to Harper's closet and removed all of the changing table stuff from the top of her dresser. I think only a parent who has gone through potty training can understand the excitement of seeing this:

Day 1 was a tremendous success but ended like it started. I gave her a bath and she melted down over the fact that I was putting her to bed in a pull-up instead of a diaper. But I stuck to my guns and told her no more diapers and she was fine after awhile. The poor thing was so exhausted that she fell asleep while I was talking to her in her bed and she slept until nearly 8:30 the next morning! Considering she usually gets up between 6-6:30, I knew she was exhausted.

Day 2 was even better than Day 1. When we started out, I said our goals for today were to keep the towels dry and poop in the potty. I'm proud to say she accomplished both! However, after she pooped in the potty, she still pooped a little on the kitchen floor. Clearly, she wasn't done yet. But it was okay because it was right after dinner and I just took the girls up and gave them baths. So I feel like it was still a good day. And she was excited because she got two toys (one for pooping in the potty and one for filling up her potty chart again).

Day 3 was good too. I felt like she had done such a great job that I thought we'd try big girl panties. She was actually excited to wear them and she still did great peeing on the potty without reminders. I was so excited and patting myself on the back about her being potty trained. Then after lunch we were playing in the playroom and I caught a whiff of something. "Lainey? Do you need to go potty?" "Nope." "You sure? You sure you don't need to poop?" "Nope!" (This is where she tries to run off and I grab her and find that her panties are full of poop.) So...that was kind of a mess to clean up but I tried to stay upbeat and we put on clean panties. 

So she did not get toys today because she didn't poop in the potty or fill her chart but I still think she did great. I am also terrified to leave the house and have ordered a travel potty. We shall see how things go from here!