Here is your warning: This is a post about potty training and might include more details than you want to hear about our experience. Short story is, Katelyn is potty trained. It you want the long story, read on!
Just before December we bought a box of diapers and David and I looked at each other and had the idea that this could be our last box of diapers for Katelyn! She had been showing signs of readiness here and there, but we still knew it was on the earlier side of being ready or not. David had left it up to me since I would really be the one that would do the majority of the training being home with her during the week while he was working out of town. I think David bought her potty seat around when she turned 18 months or so hoping that I would potty train her then. I wasn't ready to do it then. Then a couple months later he bought the movie Potty Power hoping that would get me excited to train her, but that didn't happen either. Katelyn would show some signs of interest in going potty like a big girl, but they were just moments that I saw as her getting closer and closer to being ready, but not quite ready still.
We were nearing the end of the box of diapers and I had told David that once that box ran out, then I was going to go for it. In my mind, I imagined that we wouldn't need diapers for night or day once she was potty trained. As I began my research digging through the blog world I quickly realized that learning to be potty trained during the night usually didn't happen right away with the day time training. We only had a handful of diapers left and it was midweek and David was out of town. I didn't have easy access to a store, and I wasn't ready that very day to start training, so I was a little nervous, but compiled my game plan for this adventure and went at it.
I layed out sheets of vinyl and taped them to our carpet in our living room and all they way to the bathroom. I planned on spending nearly all of the next week either in the kitchen or on the protected carpet. This saved our carpet many times in first few days of training.
I made a party out of it and Davy was invited, but was kind of our third wheel all week. He was given attention as needed, but was very chill and laid back and I took advantage of his milk-drunkeness. I offered Katelyn drinks of all types and wanted her to have lots of opportunities to practice so she drank milk, chocolate milk, strawberry milk, juice of all kinds, and smoothies sometimes too!
I pulled out our leftover Halloween candy....we still had a lot left at Christmas time... and told her she could have a piece each time she goes in the potty. This seemed simple enough and an enticing reward that she was very interested in.
She wore her Princess, Minnie, and Daisy Duck undies and loved them. She didn't understand the whole idea of "don't get pee on Rapunzel" or "Keep Minnie clean".
So we started our day and we had all the drinks being drunk and I had a timer set to go off every 30 minutes so we would go and try. Here is the chart of our first day...is is exhausting to look at this!
Wednesday December 19th 2012
Time What happened? What are we doing?
10:20:00 wet panties while playing with little brother in bathroom. Watching Potty Power
11:00:00 Wet panties while painting, and then we ran to the toilet and she finished going pee, washed hands, and picked out a dum dum
11:10:00 Said poo poo and grabbed bum and then started wetting pants. We ran to the potty and she went pee, washed hands and finished sucker
11:30:00 Timer went off we ran to the potty and just sat and read books, no pee, no poop Painting wreaths
11:50:00 Changing movies out and wet her pants. Ran to the potty and nothing came out.
12:00:00 Timer went off and no poop or pee on the potty Watching Potty Power
12:15:00 She asked for candy, and I told her she get s candy for going pee or poop on the potty. Two minutes later, she stood up and started wetting her panties and then we ran to the toilet and she went pee some more and got a Krabby Patty for a treat painting popsicle sticks for Christmas trees
12:30:00 Wet her undies just before the timer went off and then didn't want to go sit on the potty.
You Rock Babe, remember the accidents are part of learning I love you
12.45 Asked for some candy and then I told her she gets candy when she goes pee or poop on the potty and so she ran to the potty and went pee. Her undies were a little wet so we changed them, but her leggings over he panties were dry.
1:00-1:15 Sat on the potty when the timer went off and read a book. No pee or poop Watch Musical Baby
1:20:00 Pooped in undies and didn't want to go to the potty when asked. I made her go anyways so we could clean out her undies and then she wanted candy so she sat on the potty and went pee
1:30:00 Timer went off and we sat on the potty but nothing came out.
Nap time for all of us! Nap time
4:30:00 Awake from nap. Napped with diaper on and it was wet when we changed back into undies
5:00:00 Timer went off and we ran to the potty and sat and read a book. Nothing came out and she didn't want undies, so no undies Watching Robin Hood
5:30:00 Timer went off and we rant to the potty and she peed! Washed hands and got a piece of a cookie. no undies still
6:00:00 Timer went off and we ran to the potty. She peed and washed hands and got a piece of a cookie. No undies still
6:20:00 She asked to sit on the potty so we did, but nothing came out
6:30:00 Timer went off so we ran to the potty and she peed. Washed hands and she got a yellow starburst. No undies still making trees with popsicle sticks
7:00:00 Timer went off and we ran to the potty and she peed. Washed hands and she picked a mini tootsie pop. No undies
7:30:00 Timer went off and nothing came out on the potty
7:50:00 Katelyn ran to the potty all on her own! and peed! Finally gets the tootsie roll she's been begging for for the last half hour! Watching Safe Side
8:30:00 Katelyn pooped on floor right as alarm went off then we went to dump it in the potty and she peed in the potty
9:00:00 Peed in the potty! Loved her cookie Started Robin hood
9:30:00 Sat on the potty, but nothing came out
Time for bed in a diaper
This was on a Google Spreadsheet and so David was able to follow along with our day and loved it. The following days got better and better and it was so exhausting. Some people wonder why I didn't do it with David home, and I think it was just something that I wanted to do on my own. I tend to micro-manage David (I hope I am not the only one) on what works and doesn't work with the kids since I am home with them all day and I could have sorted it out so we were on the same page and done our potty training on a weekend, but I didn't want to have to worry about it. I didn't want to have conflicting methods or have to worry about him doing something one way and then I do it another and confuse Katelyn in the process. So just doing it my way while he was away was nice and he was able to come home and see what we did and join in on the fun once she had a good idea of it.
The down side of him not being there was that this was exhausting...physically and emotionally! I tried to be excited and cheerful and keep any frustration or anger hidden away and I think I did it. By nap time the first day, I had to wash her undies so she didn't run out by the end of the day with how fast she was peeing through all of them! I tried to stay hopeful and I am glad I did, because she did get the idea of it and figured out the whole peeing and pooping thing.
This potty training thing got very interesting when Katelyn's gag reflex came into the picture. When ever she had a pooping accident she was always grossed out by it. I was on top of the mess and cleaning everything up for her every time, but I wasn't always fast enough and she would start gagging. She did this occasionally when she would watch me change Davy's diapers or spit up. David didn't think she really was gagging and that I was just exaggerating her reaction. On Christmas morning Katelyn was all dressed and ready to go to my brother's house and we were eating our yummy Sticky Buns and eggs for a late breakfast. Katelyn pooped her pants and David went off to help her and clean it all up. The clean up didn't go too smoothly and Katelyn started gagging. I am finishing my breakfast as I hear this all going on in the bathroom. As I finish my breakfast, Katelyn's gagging turns into puking. So David picks her up and the mess is spreading. He now had Katelyn's poop and puke on him. To add to it, Davy had spit up on him just minutes earlier. I came in to help and get everyone cleaned up and calmed down. I sent David to clean up himself and I took over with Katelyn. Cleaned her up and dressed her up again and she was good to go. I came out to find that David was still in his disgusting clothes eating that heavenly meal! I was in shock that he didn't change first, but he said he just wanted to eat the good food in peace and calm down from the whole mess of it all so that's what he did! Food is the way to his heart, and the messes of his wonderful kids wasn't going to stop him! ...and he let me know that he did indeed believe me that Katelyn does gag with things that look or smell bad.
So, her gagging has made this potty training adventure that much more exciting! We even have to flush before she checks out what she put in there. I have found that I can usually distract her and ask her questions that don't relate to the accident weather it is her own or her brother's to prevent the puking. Anyone else have kids that get grossed out to the point of puking?
Another thing...we used our stash of Halloween candy and she got to pick something EACH time she went. These are the like the individual starburst, mini snickers and chocolate candy bars, dum dums, and other candies that are pretty small, but she was going potty every half an hour and sometimes every 10 minutes! Between the sugary drinks and the candy rewards, her diet consisted of sugar! Sometimes she didn't even have enough time to finish her starburst or sucker before she had to go again. But I don't think she would have let me take the candy out of the whole training process. Eventually we moved to a Katelyn sized bite of a cookie, a single chocolate chip, a single M&M, or marshmallows. She was close to a sugar coma that first day! I underestimated how often she would actually go.
She quickly learned that if she went potty she gets a sugary treat and when she would finish one treat, she would announce she had to go potty and would hope she could get something out in order to get more treats!
I was so paranoid to go out in public...or to church of grocery shopping! We survived though. She had some accidents out in public but we all handled ourselves well and the times that we made it home from places with no accidents felt victorious!
I made up some "piddle pads" as I like to call them that saved us some frustration too. They were simply a rectangle that had lots of layers and one layer of the plastic vinyl so they could soak up any mess while we were on the go. They have been great for her car seat especially! I also use them if she falls asleep somewhere without a diaper on for nap time and I don't want to wake her up putting a diaper on. She used them around the house the first couple of weeks if she didn't want to sit on the vinyl taped on the ground then she could sit on her "piddle pad" instead.
She was very proud of herself and will now cheer us on as we go. She has often announced "I go potty!!!!" to the first person she sees outside of the bathroom in any public place. Most people understand her excitement and glee and will congratulate her and give me a reassuring smile telling me they remember those days with their own children.
So as of now, she wears a diaper for her mid-day nap and when she sleeps at night. We have had a couple of times where she has gone through a slump and didn't want to go to the bathroom. She wanted to go when she wanted and it was frustrating, because we knew she could do it, but I think we were stressing her out asking all the time so that was her way of taking control. It can be so hard to be cheerful all the time, but I have tried so hard even when she is being rebellious. She has come out of the slumps on her own and I don't think I changed anything of did anything different, just stayed persistent. It takes a lot of patience, but I think we are getting to the tail end of it all (every time I have said that, she has gone into one of her slumps and started having accidents, but it has been a month now so I think we are clear!). Once she can consistently stay dry during the nights then we will drop the night time diapers. I am proud of her and that she pretty much had it all figured out within a week. We have had good times and bad times but I think she has it all figured out!
Just before December we bought a box of diapers and David and I looked at each other and had the idea that this could be our last box of diapers for Katelyn! She had been showing signs of readiness here and there, but we still knew it was on the earlier side of being ready or not. David had left it up to me since I would really be the one that would do the majority of the training being home with her during the week while he was working out of town. I think David bought her potty seat around when she turned 18 months or so hoping that I would potty train her then. I wasn't ready to do it then. Then a couple months later he bought the movie Potty Power hoping that would get me excited to train her, but that didn't happen either. Katelyn would show some signs of interest in going potty like a big girl, but they were just moments that I saw as her getting closer and closer to being ready, but not quite ready still.
We were nearing the end of the box of diapers and I had told David that once that box ran out, then I was going to go for it. In my mind, I imagined that we wouldn't need diapers for night or day once she was potty trained. As I began my research digging through the blog world I quickly realized that learning to be potty trained during the night usually didn't happen right away with the day time training. We only had a handful of diapers left and it was midweek and David was out of town. I didn't have easy access to a store, and I wasn't ready that very day to start training, so I was a little nervous, but compiled my game plan for this adventure and went at it.
I layed out sheets of vinyl and taped them to our carpet in our living room and all they way to the bathroom. I planned on spending nearly all of the next week either in the kitchen or on the protected carpet. This saved our carpet many times in first few days of training.
I made a party out of it and Davy was invited, but was kind of our third wheel all week. He was given attention as needed, but was very chill and laid back and I took advantage of his milk-drunkeness. I offered Katelyn drinks of all types and wanted her to have lots of opportunities to practice so she drank milk, chocolate milk, strawberry milk, juice of all kinds, and smoothies sometimes too!
I pulled out our leftover Halloween candy....we still had a lot left at Christmas time... and told her she could have a piece each time she goes in the potty. This seemed simple enough and an enticing reward that she was very interested in.
She wore her Princess, Minnie, and Daisy Duck undies and loved them. She didn't understand the whole idea of "don't get pee on Rapunzel" or "Keep Minnie clean".
So we started our day and we had all the drinks being drunk and I had a timer set to go off every 30 minutes so we would go and try. Here is the chart of our first day...is is exhausting to look at this!
Wednesday December 19th 2012
Time What happened? What are we doing?
10:20:00 wet panties while playing with little brother in bathroom. Watching Potty Power
11:00:00 Wet panties while painting, and then we ran to the toilet and she finished going pee, washed hands, and picked out a dum dum
11:10:00 Said poo poo and grabbed bum and then started wetting pants. We ran to the potty and she went pee, washed hands and finished sucker
11:30:00 Timer went off we ran to the potty and just sat and read books, no pee, no poop Painting wreaths
11:50:00 Changing movies out and wet her pants. Ran to the potty and nothing came out.
12:00:00 Timer went off and no poop or pee on the potty Watching Potty Power
12:15:00 She asked for candy, and I told her she get s candy for going pee or poop on the potty. Two minutes later, she stood up and started wetting her panties and then we ran to the toilet and she went pee some more and got a Krabby Patty for a treat painting popsicle sticks for Christmas trees
12:30:00 Wet her undies just before the timer went off and then didn't want to go sit on the potty.
You Rock Babe, remember the accidents are part of learning I love you
12.45 Asked for some candy and then I told her she gets candy when she goes pee or poop on the potty and so she ran to the potty and went pee. Her undies were a little wet so we changed them, but her leggings over he panties were dry.
1:00-1:15 Sat on the potty when the timer went off and read a book. No pee or poop Watch Musical Baby
1:20:00 Pooped in undies and didn't want to go to the potty when asked. I made her go anyways so we could clean out her undies and then she wanted candy so she sat on the potty and went pee
1:30:00 Timer went off and we sat on the potty but nothing came out.
Nap time for all of us! Nap time
4:30:00 Awake from nap. Napped with diaper on and it was wet when we changed back into undies
5:00:00 Timer went off and we ran to the potty and sat and read a book. Nothing came out and she didn't want undies, so no undies Watching Robin Hood
5:30:00 Timer went off and we rant to the potty and she peed! Washed hands and got a piece of a cookie. no undies still
6:00:00 Timer went off and we ran to the potty. She peed and washed hands and got a piece of a cookie. No undies still
6:20:00 She asked to sit on the potty so we did, but nothing came out
6:30:00 Timer went off so we ran to the potty and she peed. Washed hands and she got a yellow starburst. No undies still making trees with popsicle sticks
7:00:00 Timer went off and we ran to the potty and she peed. Washed hands and she picked a mini tootsie pop. No undies
7:30:00 Timer went off and nothing came out on the potty
7:50:00 Katelyn ran to the potty all on her own! and peed! Finally gets the tootsie roll she's been begging for for the last half hour! Watching Safe Side
8:30:00 Katelyn pooped on floor right as alarm went off then we went to dump it in the potty and she peed in the potty
9:00:00 Peed in the potty! Loved her cookie Started Robin hood
9:30:00 Sat on the potty, but nothing came out
Time for bed in a diaper
This was on a Google Spreadsheet and so David was able to follow along with our day and loved it. The following days got better and better and it was so exhausting. Some people wonder why I didn't do it with David home, and I think it was just something that I wanted to do on my own. I tend to micro-manage David (I hope I am not the only one) on what works and doesn't work with the kids since I am home with them all day and I could have sorted it out so we were on the same page and done our potty training on a weekend, but I didn't want to have to worry about it. I didn't want to have conflicting methods or have to worry about him doing something one way and then I do it another and confuse Katelyn in the process. So just doing it my way while he was away was nice and he was able to come home and see what we did and join in on the fun once she had a good idea of it.
The down side of him not being there was that this was exhausting...physically and emotionally! I tried to be excited and cheerful and keep any frustration or anger hidden away and I think I did it. By nap time the first day, I had to wash her undies so she didn't run out by the end of the day with how fast she was peeing through all of them! I tried to stay hopeful and I am glad I did, because she did get the idea of it and figured out the whole peeing and pooping thing.
This potty training thing got very interesting when Katelyn's gag reflex came into the picture. When ever she had a pooping accident she was always grossed out by it. I was on top of the mess and cleaning everything up for her every time, but I wasn't always fast enough and she would start gagging. She did this occasionally when she would watch me change Davy's diapers or spit up. David didn't think she really was gagging and that I was just exaggerating her reaction. On Christmas morning Katelyn was all dressed and ready to go to my brother's house and we were eating our yummy Sticky Buns and eggs for a late breakfast. Katelyn pooped her pants and David went off to help her and clean it all up. The clean up didn't go too smoothly and Katelyn started gagging. I am finishing my breakfast as I hear this all going on in the bathroom. As I finish my breakfast, Katelyn's gagging turns into puking. So David picks her up and the mess is spreading. He now had Katelyn's poop and puke on him. To add to it, Davy had spit up on him just minutes earlier. I came in to help and get everyone cleaned up and calmed down. I sent David to clean up himself and I took over with Katelyn. Cleaned her up and dressed her up again and she was good to go. I came out to find that David was still in his disgusting clothes eating that heavenly meal! I was in shock that he didn't change first, but he said he just wanted to eat the good food in peace and calm down from the whole mess of it all so that's what he did! Food is the way to his heart, and the messes of his wonderful kids wasn't going to stop him! ...and he let me know that he did indeed believe me that Katelyn does gag with things that look or smell bad.
So, her gagging has made this potty training adventure that much more exciting! We even have to flush before she checks out what she put in there. I have found that I can usually distract her and ask her questions that don't relate to the accident weather it is her own or her brother's to prevent the puking. Anyone else have kids that get grossed out to the point of puking?
Another thing...we used our stash of Halloween candy and she got to pick something EACH time she went. These are the like the individual starburst, mini snickers and chocolate candy bars, dum dums, and other candies that are pretty small, but she was going potty every half an hour and sometimes every 10 minutes! Between the sugary drinks and the candy rewards, her diet consisted of sugar! Sometimes she didn't even have enough time to finish her starburst or sucker before she had to go again. But I don't think she would have let me take the candy out of the whole training process. Eventually we moved to a Katelyn sized bite of a cookie, a single chocolate chip, a single M&M, or marshmallows. She was close to a sugar coma that first day! I underestimated how often she would actually go.
She quickly learned that if she went potty she gets a sugary treat and when she would finish one treat, she would announce she had to go potty and would hope she could get something out in order to get more treats!
I was so paranoid to go out in public...or to church of grocery shopping! We survived though. She had some accidents out in public but we all handled ourselves well and the times that we made it home from places with no accidents felt victorious!
I made up some "piddle pads" as I like to call them that saved us some frustration too. They were simply a rectangle that had lots of layers and one layer of the plastic vinyl so they could soak up any mess while we were on the go. They have been great for her car seat especially! I also use them if she falls asleep somewhere without a diaper on for nap time and I don't want to wake her up putting a diaper on. She used them around the house the first couple of weeks if she didn't want to sit on the vinyl taped on the ground then she could sit on her "piddle pad" instead.
So as of now, she wears a diaper for her mid-day nap and when she sleeps at night. We have had a couple of times where she has gone through a slump and didn't want to go to the bathroom. She wanted to go when she wanted and it was frustrating, because we knew she could do it, but I think we were stressing her out asking all the time so that was her way of taking control. It can be so hard to be cheerful all the time, but I have tried so hard even when she is being rebellious. She has come out of the slumps on her own and I don't think I changed anything of did anything different, just stayed persistent. It takes a lot of patience, but I think we are getting to the tail end of it all (every time I have said that, she has gone into one of her slumps and started having accidents, but it has been a month now so I think we are clear!). Once she can consistently stay dry during the nights then we will drop the night time diapers. I am proud of her and that she pretty much had it all figured out within a week. We have had good times and bad times but I think she has it all figured out!
