Potty Training

Mallory has been ready for potty training for a while and I have been putting it off because why on earth is anybody excited about potty training? Yeah, no more diapers, but is that so much better than frantically searching for a bathroom the moment you walk into a store? or worrying weather or not you are going to find a puddle of pee in the carseat when they fall asleep on the way home (luckily that hasn't happened yet)? or asking 20 times a day if they have to go potty? or changing clothes and the rug on the floor when they just can't make it there on time? Perhaps this isn't that bad of a deal when you think of the consequences of not ever potty training - I think they would get made fun of it they were still wearing diapers in kindergarten - so I guess all in all it's worth it.



I have been dreading this post because I feel like there is some kind of curse that once you post about something going well then all the stars will all un-align and everything will revert back to some kind of awful situation.



Regardless, I feel like the time has come to post. Two weekends ago we started potty training. To all of you out there that are expecting a second child - I strongly suggest you attempt potty training before having the baby. Seeing as you don't get to pick when nature calls for a 2 year old, rushing to the potty while holding a sleeping baby is not ideal.



Anyway, I had been given mixed advice on how to do this and decided to just go cold turkey to panties. Apparently Eric was not on board with this approach. I believe his exact words were "Why don't we do Pull-Ups? I don't want her running around peeing and pooping all over the furniture." First of all, Pull-Ups feel the same as a diapers and Mallory prefered going in diapers. Second of all, she isn't a dog running around marking her territory and from what I had heard, the accidents were mainly on the first day. So I stuck with my plan and went cold turkey and we also rewarded with jelly beans for pees and chocolate balls for poopies. We switched to grapes after we realized how many times she could make the one little drop tinkles.



Day 1, all morning long we only had one accident and everything was going great. I had an eye appointment so I got her a snack and her new water bottle full of water and headed off to my appointment - big mistake. I came back to six accidents (one of which was on Eric's pants and let me tell you how thrilled about it he was - but hey - it wasn't on the furniture!) and a diaper back on. Everything I had read said that you should never put them back in diapers once you've started this method, so I was a little upset. BUT- it all worked out so I can't complain now, plus we rain out of panties so there wasn't another option. So off I went to the store to buy 20 more pairs of panties. I thought I would entice the process with princess panties. We talked about how we didn't want to pee on the princesses and that actually worked pretty well. That afternoon we only had one more accident.



Day 2, only two accidents, one of which happened because she couldn't get her pants off in time. Great job.



Day 3 was a school day and I was nervous of the outcome. However, to my surprise she was only wet after her nap which was ok because we put her in pull ups (which by the way are NOT easy up and down like they adverstise).



From Day 4 on Mallory got to the point where she was now telling us when she had to go potty (which was good for us because it is easy to get distracted and forget to ask her).



To this day, Mallory makes it through the day and her naps without any accidents. We still put her in diapers at night and most mornings she wakes up dry. Lets hope by posting this that I am not cursed by reversion of the progress we have made thus far.



So to refresh your memory: Potty train before the baby comes, don't leave them with a full water bottle on thier first day, and use a healthy treat because they try and go a lot!