Potty Days

We are back from our potty training hiatus. And all I can say is:

"it was the best of times, it was the worst of times"

-Charles Dickens

But we had

SUCCESS!!!

Here is the quick (okay, it's long) rundown of our experience:

The 3 day potty training mainly consists of you (the mom) constantly following your toddler around the house for three days straight. You don't cook, you don't clean, and you definitely don't blog. The two of you are glued at the hip. You constantly ask your toddler if their underwear is DRY, we're talking like every 5-15 minutes constantly. And you pump them full of fluids, the more they drink the more they pee! Then you wait for that moment, you know the one, when they get that look on their face, the one that says 'oh, I've got to go'. If they are already going on the floor you pick them up and run to the potty and if they are about to go potty you tell them to run and they sit themselves down and go on the potty. There is more to the program but I don't want to infringe upon the copyright laws.

Day 1

We got out of bed and started talking to Bailey about her big Potty Day. She threw all of her diapers in the garbage and the potty game was on. I stopped to fix my hair in the mirror, Bam ran into the other room and peed on the floor (floor-1 potty-0). An hour later she made it to the potty and I saw the potential. Then it was time for me to feed Addison, I asked Rob if he could be on guard but he was leaving for a meeting. While we were talking about who was on deck she ran into her room and made a puddle (floor-2 potty-1). Before her nap I laid a towel down in her crib, I was sure she was going to wake up wet and screaming. Amazingly when I went into her room to get her she was all dry!!! Don't ask me how it happened (Bay is a miracle worker) but it did. The rest of the day she stayed dry (that's floor-2 potty-6). I debated all day if I should put a diaper on her at night, but I stayed true to the program and she wore panties to bed. I was a very nervous diaper mom.

Day 2

I wake up to Bailey screaming for me. I think Oh, crap! I walk into her room and ask "are your panties dry?" She shouts YES. Yah right, I pick her up and to my surprise/delight she is actually dry. I was truly amazed, I really didn't think she had it in her but she did it. The rest of the morning was touch and go. An accident here, a success there. I lived off of special K cereal and brownies, the house was a mess. Then I pushed my luck and let her play outside. I was with her the whole time until Ads woke up from her nap. I left Bay for 1 minute and upon my arrival she had made dirt into mud. I was frustrated to say the least. Before her nap it was floor-3 potty-3 (not great). I loved walking into her room after the nap and finding her dry again. The rest of the day the underwear stayed dry but the big problem was becoming the poop or lack there of. She had avoided doing number two the whole time (this girl has got great control). Well, we gave her a bath and she was wandering around the house naked. I know what your thinking, a naked toddler, exhausted parents, and multiple hiding spots 'you are so in trouble'. I randomly asked her if she was all dry and she disappeared. 10 seconds later I realized what was happening and asked Robert to hunt her down. He found her on the potty doing a doopies, all by herself. This kid just keeps surprising me. She started yelling "look, look, look what I did, I did it". So we whipped out the ice cream like we had promised, even though it was way past her bed time. She ate her cold treat proudly. But the sugar gave our energizer bunny a power shot and she just couldn't fall asleep after that. Finally around 10:45 she was out for good. And I followed suit. The days totals came to floor-3 potty-9.

Day 3

Addie kept me up for most of the night so when I heard Bailey calling for me at 8:15 I seriously considered sleeping in and letting her wet the bed. But I didn't, she used the potty right after waking up and so our day started. I filled her tummy full of juices and the hours started to pass. I decided to shower while Bam was awake because Robert was at home to be the watch guard. I told him that she could blow at any minute. Once I was out of the shower I was back on watch duty. We were getting close to the three hour mark and I started blow drying my hair (selfish mommy). Bam left my sight to play in her room and I was 10 steps behind her. She started playing and her waters started to flow, I ran in, picked her up and placed her on the potty (wet panties and all). We talked about how yucky her panties were when they got wet and she got pretty sad. I was really mad/disappointed in myself. But the rest of the day ran smoothly, we even had another B.M.. Then around 5 pm I was in my room and heard Bailey shooting down the hall "pee-pee potty, pee-pee potty". So I ran out to find her and she was sitting on the potty (with panties off) all by herself. She did it all by herself. The rest of the evening she continued to tell us when she had to go potty, it was great! The days total came to floor-1 potty 9.

This is how bay spent most of our days, pants-less.

Checking out her first poop!

And the much anticipated, much promised Ice Cream, for going poop on the potty.

So at the beginning of this very long post I said that potty training was the best and the worst. I really enjoyed all the time I got to spend with Bailey. I can't remember the last time I got to read books, color, and play with her all day long. But on the flip side, it was very stressful and tedious work. It almost broke me and by day 3 Bailey was asking me to 'go away' because she wanted to play by herself. Sorry I don't have any real horror stories of Bailey crapping her pants or me getting peed on. It was a relatively clean experience. I would definitely recommend this 3 day program but it's not for the faint of heart. You've got to be committed. It has a few flaws and is missing some key information like: what if my kid wets the bed at night? can I use diapers then? when do I put pants on my kid? can I use rewards? is there a cut off time for liquids and sleeping times? when can I venture out of my house? etc.

Well I figured out the answers to those questions by doing some more reading and asking other moms that have already been through the potty training process. It's been five days now, two days have been completely dry, we are wearing pants, running errands, and she now tells us when she has to go. All and all I'd call that a success! and . . .

BAILEY IS A BIG GIRL NOW!!!

and I have to say I'm pretty proud of myself as well.