Potty Training

The last two weeks we've spent potty training Claire and I think it's safe to say that she's got it! She is not a baby anymore, no more diapers for her and we are down to buying only one size diapers again, yay! :) 

I was dreading potty training. I had heard so many horror stories, and using diapers was safer and more dependable and easier (in a way). But it was time. She had been showing signs for awhile that she was ready. So finally we started and she has been amazing! She keeps on surprising me with how well she gets it. :)
This was our method. Monday morning she woke up and we took off her diaper and didn't put on another one. We let her play around the house and I tried to keep a close eye on her, and when she had an accident I didn't really say much, just "oops, you made a mess." Then I cleaned it up and pointed to her little potty (which we kept in whatever room she was in) and told her to try to get it in her potty next time. That first day she sat on the potty a lot, but never made any "deposits" in the potty and it was unfortunately all accidents. The second day, we took her diaper off again and left it off. She completely surprised me and went in her potty and had no accidents all day. When she actually went "potty" in her potty, we made a huge deal about it. We cheered for her, gave her high fives, gave her a "potty treat" and told her what a good girl she was. I did start a timer the second day and had her hurry and sit on the potty every twenty minutes or so, but she was sitting on it herself without the timer going off or me reminding her, so I didn't use the timer for very long. The third day we did the same thing and she only had maybe one accident. On Thursday, we put panties on her, and she had a couple accidents, but picked up on that pretty quick and has been doing great since. Her biggest problem has been just learning to pull down her panties quickly. Once she gets that down, she'll be a pro!

We've put pull ups on her for naps and bedtime, but we've left her potty in her room and she's totally surprised me by how well she's doing at the night training too. She'd wake us up in the middle of the night with a little cry to get our attention and when I'd go in her room, I'd find her just sitting there on her potty with a smile on her face, just waiting for us to help her. I was worried about going to church, but we brought her little potty along (and hid it in the kitchen right next to nursery) and she surprised me again. As a sign she had to go, she made it a habit of just pulling down her skirt wherever she was. While this proved effective in letting us know, it was a little awkward when she did it in the middle of nursery and again in the hallway. It made us laugh pretty good though. :)

This week, we've worked on keeping her "little potty" in the bathroom and then transitioning her to the "big potty". She's been doing awesome. We're jumping for joy around here! :)