Tuesday, June 30, 2009

Potty time!

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We just finished day 4 and I'm calling it a success! Here's what worked for us:


Day 1: Disaster. We pretty much just put underwear on her (Elmo undies that she picked out herself) and told her to let us know when she had to use the potty. We also tried to make sure we were putting her on the potty about once every hour. It was a complete disaster. At one point during the day, as I saw her standing in a puddle of pee with a brown nugget hanging out of the bottom of her underwear, I asked her if she went poo-poo and the response was "No mama, no poo-poo!" and then she proceeded to go play (I obviously intervened and cleaned her up, but the point is that it didn't bother her). I told Marc that I was ready to throw in the towel and he kept saying "Stay the course! It's only the first day!".


Day 2: We smartened up. We bought a timer and a bag of m&m's. The timer was set for every 30 minutes and she got 1 m&m for pee-pee and 2 for poo-poo. (I got a handful of m&m's for every time I had to clean up an accident) We had a few accidents, but she was definitely interested in the reward of "em, em!" as she calls them.


Day 3: Only one accident in the morning and she went #2 for the first time in the potty (I'm sure you can only imagine our excitement).


Day 4: One little accident in the morning, and when she realized that she dribbled she immediately said "Oh no! ELMO!!!" (because she was upset that her Elmo underwear got wet) and then ran to the bathroom as fast as she could and finished going on the potty. Today we went to the mall for a *quick* trip to the Apple store. Unfortunately, the store was packed and we had to wait a while. We were all distracted and lost track of time when Poppy came running up to me and said "Pee-pee mama! Pee-pee!". The nearest restroom was pretty far and she refused to let me carry her so I walked fast and she ran behind me all the way. Got to the bathroom and Elmo undies were still dry and she went on the potty. The whole drive home from the mall she kept saying "Elmo dry! Elmo dry all day!" She also let me know when we got home that she had to go. So you can definitely tell that something "clicked" today and she got the concept of the whole thing.


I would call that a success, wouldn't you? I'm so proud of her that she caught on so quickly- because as of day 1, I seriously did not think this was going to happen. And they say to try to stay home as much as possible during potty training, but we've been pretty busy so we've been out and about a lot and she still did good! (oh and for anyone thinking about starting potty training, you need to get the folding plastic potty seat for public restrooms - you just fold it up and keep it in your diaper bag) Wish us luck tomorrow!

11 comments:

saintlouisfricks said...

wow. very, very impressive!

Natalie said...

YAY!!!!! You are my motivation!!!!! Love the pic of Poppy reading on the potty, I just posted the same picture of Claire (see...old sames :)). CONGRATULATIONS!! YAY POPPY! SHE'S THE BEST!!!

Michelle said...

Such a quick learner! So a bag of M&M's and some Elmo underwear is the trick, huh?
When you have a moment, pass on the name of the folding potty seat.

Amy said...

That is awesome - I remember the horror stories of potty training my nephews! Nice Job! Can you keep a bag of M & Ms at school so every time I go I get some!

jenna said...

awesome! nice work...a bit jealous over here, but I realize Poppy has a few months on Miss Ella :) Keep up the good work Poppy!

sarah said...

Yay, thats exciting. Ava peed through 4 pairs of underwear in 1 hour today and then we decided to go on a fun outing so I completely threw in the towel! I will try again when I know I am going to be home for at least 2 days! By the way, that pasta was really good...

Chandra said...

Yay for Poppy! And for you, that's great that it clicked with her and she is understanding. So cute that she didn't want Elmo to get wet.

Courtney said...

Congratulations!!! All of that hard work and stress paid off!!!

margaret said...

Little Poppy, how wonderful she is anyway,whether she wears Elmo (fashion undies) or pink diddies..
She is such a smart girl...love you, Gramma

Christine said...

OK - I'm dying over here. That was perhaps one of the funniest potty posts I've ever read. I'm going to be giggling for days when I think of the "Oh no! ELMO!" and "Elmo dry! Elmo dry all day!" comments. Too much.

Now, onto the serious stuff. FOUR DAYS?!?! POPPY ROCKS!! That is impressive. Go Poppy!!

And that photo?! Absolutely priceless.

Christa said...

That picture is too cute.

But someday, when Poppy is like 18, she is gonna be mad at you for posting that photo of her on the potty!!!LOL!

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