Saturday, June 11, 2011

Potty Training: The In Earnest Phase

Gentle Reader, a disclaimer.  From the title of this post, you should be aware that this is all about the bodily functions of a 2 year old.  If this grosses you out and/or you have no desire or need or want to read about such things, please feel free to ignore this post.  It will not break my heart.  I wanted to write this because I know that Potty Training is such a crazy stage of life, and I just wanted to offer my $.02 about how we were doing it with our youngest daughter. 

So, Miss Q has reached that magical stage in life:  she's asked to start wearing panties.  This is a day that I have dreamed of and dreaded.  Yet, it is upon us here at the Zoo.  She actually asked last Monday to wear underpants, and so this is how we started:

This week: Monday-Friday:  Miss Q got one pair of underpants for the day. When she wet them, it was back in Pull-ups.  If she pooped in the Pull-ups, it was back to diapers.  However, if she sat on the potty, she got M&Ms.  If she actually peed while on the pot, she got a sticker for her Potty Chart and M&Ms. If she does everything (ie: Number 2), she gets a special treat (a Hershey's Kiss), some M&Ms, and a sticker for her Potty Chart. 

Result:  She did, honestly, really well.  During the week, she only wore diapers once.  She's been going on the toilet when she feels like it for months now.  We are just needing her to recognize when she needs to go, instead of ME recognizing when she needs to go.  I am already trained.  She is not.  So...more drastic measures because the girl wants those panties!  And, to be fair, every morning she gets the choice:  panties or pull-ups.  Only on Thursday did she pick the pull-ups.  It was a strangely magical day of no responsibility for both of us. 

Starting Today: (Today being Saturday) We are earnestly working on the training. She's wearing underpants all day (except at nap/bedtimes).  If she pees in her pants, we take the wet underpants off and replace them with underpants that I run under warm tap water. Thus, she is still wearing wet underpants but they aren't from the Nation of Urine and, thus, not freaking anyone (read: ME!) out if she sits on something...like the floor or my lap.  However, they are wet and uncomfortable and she's aware of them.  She wears them until they dry, and if she keeps them dry and then goes on to potty appropriately, then she gets all the M&Ms, stickers, etc, and has the benefit of dry pants afterwards.  If she pees while wearing the wet underpants, she gets a quick cold shower to clean her legs off.  We had decided that after the shower, she'd get dry underpants and then we start the process over.  During naps and at night, she gets pull-ups (that's a given).

So far today:  We've had ups and downs.  She has successfully identified her need to poo, which is what she has consistently been good at for the past month or so.  She has NOT been successful at identifying the need to pee, until it is running down her legs.  The Tally up to naptime?  3 wet underwears, 1 cold shower, 1 successful everything, two stickers, two places on the carpet that were cleaned, one HUGE accident on the dining room floor (which is wood and also the reason she ended up getting the cold shower), 1 pull-up for naps, 2 Very Tired Parents, but some nice and clean floors.  I'll update later.

2 comments:

Unknown said...

I do not miss potty training. Especially when there's carpet involved. M&M's were the ticket at our house, too. 1 if you went when I said to go. 2 if you peed on your own. 3 if you pooed on your own.

Good luck, on this final time through the potty gauntlet. (This is clearly an assumption. But it is encouraging to think you're almost done with it for good!)

Unknown said...

I am not gonna lie! I am so glad to be done with the potty training phase of my life. Good luck! :)