Saturday, October 22, 2011

Potty training is not for the weak

It has been 9 days since we threw the diapers away.  For a few months leading up to this date, we had been debating on if we wanted to attempt to potty train Ellie before the next baby arrives.  We heard great things about Lora Jensen's 3 Day Potty Training and thought it wouldn't hurt to try.  After all, it is only 3 days.  The initial problem was finding those 3 days.  We had an extremely busy Summer and didn't have a weekend where we didn't have something going on until 2 weekends ago-the golden 80 degree weather weekend.  I decided I was not staying in and potty training on an 80 degree weekend in October, so we pushed it one more week. 

Ellie was showing interest in the potty for the last month or two.  She loved sitting on her potty, but only after her diaper changes so she never really went much. She also loved taking off her diapers, throwing them away, and not wanting to put another one on.  We figured this was reason enough to try and we were tired of fighting with her over every diaper change.

I read Lora's book at least 3 times and was committed to following it exactly for the 3 days. No excuse for complaining it doesn't work if you change the instructions. There is more to it, but the main principals are to go cold turkey with the no diapers.  Give lots of liquids and stay VERY close to your kid for the next 3 days.  Like within a foot close so you can catch ALL accidents.  Keep things very positive and praise for every moment dry.  Every time an accident begins they need to be brought to the bathroom and reward every success, even if just a tiny bit makes it where it is supposed to go.  You're not supposed to ask them if they have to go and just pick up on all their potty signals or have them tell you when they need to go.

Day 1 - Not good.  Lots and lots of accidents.  Each time she started to have an accident I'd bring her to the bathroom where she would stop the flow.  I'd bring her back out (you aren't supposed to have them sit and try for very long) and then she would start going again.  It took about 5 times back and forth to empty the bladder for each accident.  Wanted to give up.

Day 2 - Not much better but thankfully Scott was home to help out.  Wanted to give up.

Day 3 - Much much better and Scott was still home to help.  I backed away from the liquids a little more so I think it made it a little easier for her to control.  Plus we were improving at reading her "have to go" signals.  She still wasn't telling us when she had to go though.  She was dry all day and only had one pee accident later in the evening.

Day 4 - The same as day 3, only with one poo accident. She rarely told me when she had to go and I started to ask her if she had to go and sometimes I put her on the potty even if she didn't said anything.

Day 5 - First day back to work for mommy. I was terrified of what daycare was going to do.  I talked to the director and she said I could bring Ellie in just her panties and they would be happy to try it out to see how it goes.  They sat her on the potty once an hour and sometimes she went and sometimes she didn't. This doesn't exactly fit with the method, but I was really really happy they were willing to do the panties right away. 

Day 6-9 - In 4 days of daycare, she only had one accident!  Other than that, she's had one accident per day at home.  Once in awhile she tells us when she has to go.  Surprisingly she tells us MOST of the time when she has to poo.  I hear that can be the hardest part so we're grateful for that.  I think we've only had 3 poo accidents the whole time and she goes at least twice a day.  She has stayed dry overnight since day 1 and had 2 nap time accidents. And she goes better for Scott than me, the little stinker! 

Overall, this was not the miracle I was hoping for, but it was great jump start.  We're running some errands tomorrow and I'm seriously considering putting a pull up on her!  I'm not sure it was the best idea to do this so close to having the baby (due in a week and a half) and it has been extremely exhausting for me well beyond the first three days!  I'm so proud of her though, she is doing really well when you think of the progress in the last week and a half. 

Friday, October 7, 2011

And all the animals say goodnight

This is a daily site at our house:


And it is only about half of the scene. The rest of the blankets, pillows, and animals wrap around the island. She carefully sets everything up, places each animal on the soft pillow, and wraps them in a blanket. She gives kisses to each one and reads stories to a few of her favorites. Hopefully this is good practice for when her sister comes in the next few weeks!

It seems like there has been a lot to update, but I can't think of what it is right now. I hope my memory eventually comes back. Ellie has been going on the potty about once a day. She's always saying new and crazy things.  She blames everything on someone named Grayson. She talks about scary monsters and shadows.  She likes to call people grouchy or happy.  She says "oooh, momma's belly is BIG" and growls while saying big.  Such a cutie! Speaking of cute, she points to herself and says "Ima cutie pie."

Hard to believe there is only 3.5 weeks left until my due date! The next few weeks are going to be a very challenging balance of trying to get stuff ready, resting, and soaking up the alone time with Ellie.  Oh, and lets not forget making time to watch the TIGERS!  I've lost lots of sleep over the last week watching them spank the Yankees!  Though I do miss you Granderson...

Well, gotta go clean!