Potty Training

We have been meaning to start potty training because I have felt Peyton was somewhat interested and I figured we needed to do something before Graham arrives but it has been consistently been put off for various reasons. First, I was never really in a rush (minus knowing that it would be best to not have two kids in diapers yet I still didn't feel the urgency) or ready because I didn't want to deal with the whole potty/mess stuff and I was sad about Peyton not being a baby. Second, I was horrible sick for the whole first trimester plus and then in pain for much of my second. Third, Peyton would get sick or be miserable cranky the weekends we planned. So...since John was off all this week, I am not in as much pain, Peyton is healthy and she has no school, gymnastics or other commitments, we decided to jump in and start.

So, if you are interested....I don't blame you if you are not.....here is how our week has gone very briefly with no pictures or gross details!

We did a variation of the 3 day potty boot camp....first, I am not attempting to potty train at night or at naps. She sometimes makes it through a nap but never wakes up dry from night time. I am fine with having diapers at sleep time and in no way want to wake up and deal with sheets etc. I figure she will develop more and more control and we will slowly work on that. Second, when we go to my parents house or other places we do use pull ups. Peyton thinks they are like her swim diapers which she LOVED to wear and I always call them her big girl pants and she tends to keep them drier and more accident free than panties. We wear panties at home but I know that she will have to wear pull ups at school and I don't want to have her have an accident on someone's couch so we do use pull ups. Some people say it is confusing for kids but so far for us it is working and she wants to keep the "princess" big girl pants dry.

Sunday we told Peyton she was going to be a big girl and use the potty and that meant no more diapers. We put a pallet of towels and blankets down in front of the TV and were prepared for a long day of movies and cartoons. Well, as luck would have it, I felt awful after having no sleep the night before and being sick to my stomach multiple times throughout the night and ended up having to sleep for three hours and poor John was left on potty duty. We waited and waited and finally she had to go but she had an accident. Pretty much there were LOTS of accidents on the first day, her not wanting to go even try to the potty and by the end of the day no progress. I was really questioning whether or not she was ready and if we just traumatized her instead. We did end up giving her a candy reward for trying at the end of the day because I wanted to end on a positive note.

Monday I decided to implement more of a schedule/interval and made her try every 15 minutes and worked up to 30 minutes by the end of the day. I made sure to watch only movies or cartoons on Netflix that I could pause so I could show her that she doesn't miss anything by going potty and I also put in a variety of different candies instead of just M&M's including lollipops (something she hardly ever gets) to make the reward jar more appealing. We had much more progress but still lots of accidents, pretty much she would start heading to the potty as she was going, she was figuring out the whole deal. The afternoon went better and we even ventured to Granny and Papa's that night for cookie decorating and made it accident free! Tuesday and Wednesday proved more and more successful (still having an occasional accident...I think one each day) and she even went on the big potty at Starbucks last night!

Today was the biggest test as we drove out to Katy for Christmas celebrations with John's mom. I didn't expect her to be accident free since it was an hour drive but she was and went as soon as we got there! The whole rest of the day was accident free and we even ventured to my parents for the evening and she watched a movie while we played a game and had no accidents! She is still not telling us if she has to pee but she is holding it until we take her (it helps being pregnant and me having to go all the time so she just comes with me). She does tell us if she has to go #2 which is great and is not scared of it like most kids are when learning to go on the potty! I am just so proud of her not having any accidents today at all and she is no longer asking for her candy reward. Many times I offer her the candy and she just says no and is content with the praise and being a big girl!

I will give a huge shout out and praise to John for his tremendous help and support. Although I am feeling much better than the earlier parts of my pregnancy, this is still super hard on my body and it doesn't help that I haven't been sleeping. He has been so amazing in serving me by letting me take lots of naps this week, taking a break from household responsibilities and then taking on the majority of the potty training. I appreciate him so much for using him time off from work to help me in this process and I am so thankful that we will have had a week of potty training before he goes back to work and then still another 10 days until Peyton goes back to school! I am very blessed to have John as my husband and partner in parenting!

Tomorrow we will be hanging out at home most of the day again (potty training has felt like house arrest almost) and then heading to church for Christmas Eve services and then spending the night at my parents so we can wake up there Christmas morning (yes, we live a mile away and we are still spending the night)! The next couple of days will be interesting with all of the excitement and business but hopefully John and I can stay consistent, have lots of potty breaks and continue to make progress!