Potty Training: Mission Accomplished

This is one of those posts for me…. I  know no one else wants to read about potty training but it feels like such a milestone so I have to record it.  Maybe it's one of those first child things too.  I'll be laughing at this post with child #4.

Capri was showing signs of being ready to potty train at 18 months. I entertained doing it because I was tired of Capri taking off her diaper every time it was dirty but her pediatrician discouraged me and gave me a list of reasons to wait.  Basically he told me it would be much easier after I had Kate and waited at least six months rather than drag the whole process out.  I realized I probably wasn’t ready to be “trained” either and was fine postponing the part about being housebound. I just hoped I wasn’t passing up a window of opportunity since she was showing the signs of being ready. I casually let Capri sit on the potty seat whenever she wanted and one day we even used it regularly when I ran out of diapers (our Amazon shipment was arriving that day) but there wasn't any potty training going on until the last week of April.

Capri and Kate got the hand foot and mouth disease that was floating around our church nursery.  The girls had mild cases but it’s so dang contagious I didn’t want to infect anyone.  Since we were quarantine it was the perfect time to potty train.  I made Capri a cute potty chart with stickers, purchased potty treats, mini ice cream cups, fun beverages to encourage fluids, and a few little surprises.   I rolled up all the rugs in the house (I've had two different kids pee on my rug while babysitting and absolutely hate cleaning up pee from carpet. Note to self: do not let Capri play at someone's house without a pull up for the next little while) I even put Kate’s bouncy seat next to the bathroom so I could sit her down at a moment’s notice to help Capri during our potty training.

Day 1 went pretty well, Day 2 not that great, and Day 3 she didn’t have one accident and woke up dry that morning and dry from her nap!  It was like she woke up that morning and had been potty trained all along.  I wasn’t expecting that because Day 2 was a little discouraging.  On the third day I heard her little feet pitter patter to the bathroom and followed to help her but she shooed me away- “Go away mom! Go hold Kate Mom!”  That’s when she grew up really fast and didn’t need me anymore.  Most times she just goes on her own and does her thing without me reminding her.  She woke my Dad up crying once in the night because she needed to go to the bathroom, it was dark and her potty seat was in the downstairs bathroom.  She’s been dry most nights and naps since day 3.  Am I really that lucky, do we have this sleep thing down too?

^ Some people are bathroom shy but I would say Capri likes an audience.  

She would even say things like "Twinkles, I'm going potty can you hear it?" 

"This is how you pee in the potty animals" (and when she was done I helped all the animals clap for her)

Don't worry, this is NOT what you think it is.  Capri didn't wear pants during our potty training days and I probably wouldn't have let her out front but the little stinker thinks it's hilarious to run around to the front of the house and ring the doorbell.  This time she was running so fast she slipped in the mud by our gate... I was happy to see it was mud and not what I initially thought. 

So far no accidents on outings except at church. Hopefully that was the only one and luckily it never made it to the floor.  I took her to the bathroom just 10 minutes before but maybe it was that distracted playing. 

I don’t know what potty training at 18 months would have been like, but 25 months was great so I’m glad I took my pediatrician’s advice.  Looking back I probably didn't need all the treats, prizes, stickers etc. but it sure made it fun and exciting. That little chicken that laid candy was a big hit.  Potty training is such a milestone…. Capri feels so grown up to me all of the sudden! 

 So proud of my big girl!