Potty Training

I had decided a couple of months ago that I would tackle potty training Savannah during the Christmas break. Between her going to MDO on Tuesday's and Thursday's and church on Sunday's, we never had 3+ consecutive days without her having to be under the care of someone else. And I didn't want to interrupt any progress we made with potty training by putting diapers back on for those "away" days.

Unlike several of my friends who have toddlers that are close to Savannah's age, Savannah has never once said she wanted to go potty. If Caleb or I saw her making a dirty diaper, we would instantly ask her if she wanted to go sit on the potty and she sternly said "no!" every single time.

I wasn't sure how ready she would be to start this potty training, but I was very hopeful. Unlike my last attempt at this, I prepared myself {and her} a little more. I found a few ideas online and talked to my good friend Timina for some very helpful tips.

Timina had also loaned me "Mr. Frog Pot".

We went to buy "big girl panties" and left Savannah pick them out. She chose Toy Story, Princess and  Finding Nemo packs of panties. We bought M&M's {she got to eat one each time she went pee-pee IN the potty} and we bought Dumb-Dumb suckers {she got one for poo-poo IN the potty}. We kept these in zip-lock bags on a shelf in the bathroom.

 

I made this sticker chart "Savannah's Potty Chart".

Savannah loves stickers, so I wanted her to have ample opportunity to place stickers on the chart each time she went potty. So here are the categories that she had a chance for putting a sticker on the chart:

Little did I know how time consuming this would become when Savannah wanted to run to the potty a million times a day! And as you can see, I obviously didn't make the daily spaces big enough to hold the amount of stickers she got to put on the chart!

Day 1 {Monday, Dec. 19}

Savannah woke up this morning {with a diaper on} and she was dry! I thought it was a great start to our day of potty training. I got her out of bed and took her to the potty thinking she would have to potty pretty bad after 13 hours in bed.
Wrong. She did NOT want to sit on that potty and she claimed she did not have to potty. So, after a few minutes, I decided not to force her to sit there. I took her dry diaper off and helped her to put on her big girl panties. About 10 minutes later, I asked if she needed to potty. Still she said 'no'. Thirty minutes go by {with me asking her frequently} before she had a small accident in her panties and yelled "mommy! I need to go pee-pee in the potty!" So we ran down the hall and she sat on the potty. She had a lot of pee-pee!

I was so proud and made a big deal about her being such a big girl. We did the whole sticker, wash her hands, get an M&M routine and Savannah was very proud of herself!

As the day went on, we made many, many trips down the hall to the bathroom. A few of them were false alarms, a few of them were just a few drips of pee-pee, but there were several "empty-the-very-full-bladder" trips and those made me so happy!

Throughout the whole day, she only had one accident that got her pants wet. She had a few accidents that were just "leaks", but for the most part, she let me know when she needed to potty BEFORE going in her pants.

*We still let her wear pull-ups at night because she is in a crib and I know that nighttime training is a little more difficult until they are a little older.*

 

 

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Day 2 {Tuesday, Dec 20}

Today, she had no accidents and fewer "false alarm" runs to the bathroom. She was so very proud of herself all day and we called daddy several times to update him on how well she was doing. I could tell that she needed to have a bowel movement, but I think she was afraid to do so on the potty, so she "danced around" refusing to go on the potty. But she never had an accident. Tonight is when we went to Caleb's parents house for dinner and to celebrate Christmas with them. I decided to go ahead and let Savannah wear her big girl panties, confident that if she needed to go potty she would tell me. She went the whole night without needing to potty or have an accident! 

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Day 3 {Wednesday, Dec 21}

This day was going just as good as the day before. In fact, Savannah had now been telling me when she needed to go potty, but running in there and sitting on the potty by herself! I would go in to help her clean up, flush and wash her hands. I knew she had this pee-pee in the potty thing down, but she had yet to have a bowel movement and I knew it would happen soon. What I didn't know, is if she would refuse to do it on the potty.
Well, I got my answer to that today.
It was mid-morning and Savannah had already made 15 runs to the potty {seriously!}. I knew she needed to have a bowel movement, but for over an hour she had just sat on the potty for a few seconds, then get up without having down anything, I figured it would be later in the day before she couldn't hold it any longer.

Hudson had woke up shortly after I put him down for his nap. He was wasn't going back to sleep, so I decided to go into his room to calm him down and try to get him back to sleep.

I was in Hudson's room for less than five minutes and when I came back out, Savannah was standing in the hall and in a nervous, but happy voice she said "Mommy, I go poo-poo and pee-pee in the potty. Come wook!" And then she led me into the bathroom.

To say I was surprised that she had done this without me, is a huge understatement. I repeatedly told her how proud of her I was and that she was so brave {knowing that it's pretty traumatic for her to do that}.

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And with that, I considered her fully day-time potty trained! It's been over a week and she has worn her panties all day each day {even naps} without an accident. YAY!!!!! She usually goes potty on her own and even empties the "frog pot" into the big potty and flushes on her own. She likes to get her own M&M, but has never asked for more than one per time. She doesn't even get more than one if we aren't in there with her. I'm very thankful that she was ready to be potty trained, making it rather easy and mess-free! I'll be keeping my fingers crossed that Hudson does the same.