Potty Training: Day 1

**Just a warning: This is one of those really long, really just for me kind of posts.  Feel free to read on, but it's probably not going to be the most exciting thing in the world!  I want to write everything down so that hopefully I'll have an easier time with baby #2 (and maybe it'll help some of you, too!)  Also, all of the pictures in this post are from my phone - so excuse the quality, but there was no way I could attempt all of this AND take pics on my regular camera - haha.

I knew at the end of the school year that one of my major goals this summer was to potty train LL.  We've attempted twice before with no success.  She'll be 2.5 at the end of summer, and I really don't want to be one of those moms that doesn't get their kid potty trained until right around 3 years old.  That's just way too old for my liking.

I knew that we just had to get it done because LL is just really ready for it.  She doesn't like to get her diaper changed any more, she runs to hide when she poops, she occasionally wakes up from a nap dry, etc.    The one thing that I was REALLY worried about was her strong willed nature.  On our last attempt, we ended up stopping simply because she refused to sit on the potty.  I mean, how is she going to go when she's screaming and crying and fighting to get off the potty? 

I finally realized that this is just her nature, and that she was going to act like that regardless of when we tried to potty train.  And that I was just going to have to deal with it.  And show her where she got her strong willed nature from.  :)  I mean, we all know she's gets it honest from her momma. 

I knew I wanted to wait until after her swim lessons were over.  There was no way that I was going to fight both of those battles at the same time.  So I blocked off the first free week that we had after lessons were over and devoted it to the potty. 

The first thing that I did was to order PottyWise and read it cover to cover.  We all know I do BabyWise with her, and this is their potty training book.  After reading it, I decided to go the intense approach with her (1-4 days) because I want to drag this out as little as possible.  I read it about a month before our designated "week", and then again the night before (it's not a long read).

Monday of our potty week, we went to the store to buy panties and snacks.  We already had panties from our previous attempts, but PottyWise suggests going and getting them near when you plan to start and also letting the kids pick their snack rewards.  I also figured that we could never have enough panties - what are a few more packs?  She wasn't really excited about this when I talked to her about it, but she ended up getting pretty excited once we got to the store and she started picking them out.  She actually refused to put the panties in a bad and insisted on carrying them all by herself!  She actually carried them around for the rest of the day and actually napped holding them - haha.  Also, before bed, she helped me "throw away" all of the diapers that we had and take the changing table pad out of her room.  I didn't actually throw the diapers away though because 1- those things are like gold they're so expensive and 2- we're going to need them for awhile until she's nap and night trained.  Those will come later.

Tuesday (Day#1) was our go day.  I kept a log the entire day of how it went.  Here we go:

6:30 - LL woke up.  I chose to keep her in her diaper until after breakfast (per PottyWise).  Especially being the first day, I didn't think it would go over well if I just threw her on the potty when she was just waking up.  
7:00 - Go time!  I took her diaper off, let HER throw it away, and let her pick out her panties to wear. 

7:00-7:15 - She stayed dry and clean in her panties!  We also did role playing with her bear (who was also wearing panties) to help show her the process.

7:15-7:25 - Potty break.  I had the timer on my phone set for every 15 minutes to help remind us to go to the potty.  During our potty break, she played with some new stickers that we got at the zoo.  She sat on the potty, but did not use it at all.

7:25-7:40 - She stayed dry and clean.
7:45-7:50 - Sat on the potty (we played with stickers again and practiced cutting with scissors - something she is totally obsessed with).  Did not use the potty.
7:57 - Our first accident.  We rushed to the potty (didn't use it), cleaned up, I made her put her dirty panties in the hamper, and she picked out a new pair to wear. 
8:10 - Another accident.  Decided to take her more often than every 15 minutes.
8:20-8:25 - Potty break.  Did not use it.
8:25-8:35 - dry and clean
8:35-8:38 - Potty break.  Did not use it.
8:45 - Accident (big one)
8:50 - Accident (big one)
8:55 - 9:10 - Potty break.  Did not use it.
9:15 - Accident (big one)
**At this point, I decided to not give her a new pair of panties.  She didn't seem to have a problem with going in them at all.  From this point on, we were going to approach this completely naked.  This was also the point where I felt like I could not do this and completely wanted to give up. 
9:20 - Potty break - she USED it!
9:25 - Potty break - she used it!
9:30 - Potty break - she used it!
9:35 - Potty break - she used it!
She took all of these potty breaks by her own request to use it.  Without the panties, she had a completely different sensation and did NOT want to use the bathroom on herself.  At all of these potty breaks, she was using the potty, but only going just a little.  I was also letting her watch a movie on the iPad while in the bathroom, but not letting her take it outside of the bathroom.  I think a lot of these bathroom breaks were because she wanted to watch her movie.

9:45 - Accident
9:50 - She had a HUGE accident after asking me to put her back in her panties (which I did).  She also started asking to have her diapers back at this point.  This is when I really realized that she wanted the panties to pee in, not to be a big girl.  This re-affirmed that we would continue to use the naked approach.  This is also when I threw the timer out of the window and just started watching her for potty cues instead.
10:50 - I'm starting to be able to really tell when she has to go.  She gets really fussy and really anti-potty.  She'll run around, act upset, refuse to get close to me, and dance a ton.  She went half way on the floor (still a lot), and then I forced her on the potty and she went a LOT more on there.  She kept saying she couldn't do it and was really fussy, but I kept her on there.  Once she couldn't hold it anymore, she did the rest on the potty.  She was really upset (crying, etc) when I was holding her on there, but then she was REALLY happy when she realized that she was peeing on the potty.  She was so proud of herself and asked for her potty treat (which she had refused the past couple of times).
11:00 - Keeps talking about having to go poopy (she usually goes in the morning).  She keeps saying "I need to go poopy on myself".  At this point, she was also on her third sippy of juice for the day.  A very encouraging realization on my part - she KNOWS when she has to go (the dancing, whining, crying, etc) and will hold it for up to a minute before I can get her to go on the potty!

11:15 - Started getting antsy/fussy/dancing saying she had to go.  At this point, I took the potty out of the bathroom and put it in the living room.  I put her on the potty and told her that she could do it.  She peed a little and go really excited!  I told her to try some more, so she sat back down and peed some more!  She was very proud of herself!

11:25 - Sat on the potty in the living room (by her own choice, no prompting from me) even though she isn't going and I don't think she needs to go.  I keep asking her if she wants to get up, and she says no, she wants to sit there.  After about 5 minutes, she got up and there was a teeny tiny poop in the potty!!  We both got VERY excited!  I took a picture of this, but I won't share.  ;)
11:40 - Fussy/upset.  Did a little pee in the potty.  Still fussy afterwards.  After about 5 minutes of fussing/dancing, she did a BIG pee pee on the potty!  I had to make her stay on the potty, but she did it!

12:00 - 12:30 - lunch time!  I kept her naked, but put a towel in her highchair, just in case.  When she was done at 12:30, the towel was completely dry - she held it during her whole lunch!
12:35 - got fussy and went just a little trickle on the floor.  Did more in the potty, but not much.
12:40 - Did a big pee pee on the potty!  She completely initiated sitting down herself this time.
1:00 - I put her in a diaper for nap time, but only immediately before getting in bed.  I changed her on the floor because the changing pad is no longer in her room.  I also didn't talk about it.  I just said "lets get ready for bed".
5:00 - Woke up from her nap (normally she does NOT sleep for 4 hours, but I for sure wasn't going to wake her up if she needed it!).  Here was the best news - she woke up from her nap dry and clean!  My big girl held ALL of her pee pee for 4 hours!  I put her on the potty first thing and she went.  She dribbled a little on the floor before getting on the potty, but who can blame her after holding it for that long??
5:45 - did a big pee pee in the potty.  Still acted like she had to go some more.
5:50 - did a HUGE pee pee in the potty - I was right!
6:00 - put big girl panties back on to try those again
6:35 - dribbled a little in her panties in her highchair during dinner.  I got her out and put her on the potty but she didn't do anything.
Did not put panties back on her.
6:40- she dribbled a little on the floor, but did nothing on the potty when I put her on it.
7:15- I told her it was time for bath and she ran and hid (it's a game she does almost every night when we tell her that it's time for bath).  While she was hiding, she did a medium sized accident on the floor.

All in all, I think our first day of potty training went really well!!  Hopefully it'll only get better from here!