"Bye bye Potty!!"

I think the time has FINALLY arrived!!! Could it be true? Could I be on the verge of having only ONE child in diapers?? I think this might be it! POTTY TRAINING TIME!!! Payton is 2 1/2 years old, and I have tried potty training, what seems like a million times! But, each time she didn't seem to really care, hated sitting on the potty, and would ask for her diaper! In fact, we even switched the brand of diapers we were using and they then had a lion on the front of them. OH great, I thought, because then she got excited to wear her "lion" and it wasn't helping my cause!! But, this week, on Wednesday, I decided to bring out the potty again and give it another try. Here we go again! So, here is a re-cap of the first three days....

Day 1: We started out REALLY good! I have been told to try the NAKED approach for potty training, so I let Payton run around with it all hanging out! :) She LOVED that of course, and all morning she did great! However, she didn't go once...she was just holding it. As the morning got near lunch time, her little belly was SO big and full, and I knew she was miserable. I kept telling her to sit on the potty but she just didn't go. Hmmm...now what? Well, I was in the living room, turned my head for one second, and I heard a noise. NOT a pleasant noise. A noise like running water. Or in our case, a RIVER of pee pee coming out of my daughter and ALL OVER the kitchen floor! Ahh!!! Not the place we wanted her potty to go. So, I told her that we "don't potty on the floor" and that we go in the potty...you all know, the same 'ol speech, and then made her help me clean it up. (Another tip I got, having them help to clean it up will make them not want to go again.) However, not my daughter. She found it FUN to spray the spray bottle and use paper towel all over the floor! SHOOT! This wasn't working. It then was nap time and we put a diaper on. By the time she woke up, she had pooped in the diaper! Grr...but the poor girl NEEDED to go, so I don't blame her. We quickly went back to being naked, and in the late afternoon, when Kyle got home, she FINALLY did her FIRST PEE PEE in the POTTY!! WHOO HOO!!!! We celebrated in a BIG way, let her flush her potty "bye bye", gave her a treat (Trail mix is working GREAT right now!!), and gave her a few quarters for her container to donate for starving children. Can I just say that it melts my heart when she gets SO excited for "kids to eat".... she is such a sweetheart! :) So, potty #1 done, we were excited! However, when Kyle decided to take her outside and put panties and shorts on her, it was a different story! She took LITERALLY ONE STEP outside the door and looked down...potty steaming down her legs, all over her clothes, and into her shoes! Really? Grr...so, we had to clean up, change, and try again. She held her potty the rest of the night...poor thing. That night, we put a diaper on her and sent her to bed. I gotta admit, I was defeated! I thought, MAN, that was exhausting and we had 2 accidents, 1 potty, and a poor child with a large belly because she refused to go! I was beginning to wonder if she was STILL not ready. So, day #1, not so good.

Day #2: I woke up this morning to Payton telling me she was wet. WHAT??? And wet was an understatement! She was SOAKED!! I attributed it to the fact that she hold her potty the previous day, and probably let it ALL loose once that diaper was on. Poor girl! So, that was the start to day #2 and I was worried. However, we went back to the naked approach and let her run around. I encouraged her to sit on the potty CONSTANTLY, but this time, I remembered what people said of giving LOTS of liquids when potty training. So, I filled her sippy with juice (mostly water, a hint of juice for taste...:)) and kept it full. THIS WAS THE TRICK! She blew me away!!!!!!!! Throughout the day we had MANY potty times (prob close to 10 times) and 2 poops!!!!!! That was a HUGE success!!!!!!!!!! I was actually shocked that she went poopy so early on, because I have heard that they don't go poop for a while after they start to potty train, but not this girl! She decided to figure it ALL out in ONE DAY! So, day #2 was filled with NO accidents, lots of liquids, LOTS of high fives, LOTS of kisses, LOTS of trail mix, LOTS of "bye bye potty's", LOTS of smiles and laughter, and occasional calls to Grammie and Grandma and Daddy telling them what a big girl Payton was. (And even a picture of her first poop sent to all!!) I mean, you HAVE to make a BIG deal out of the event, and we definitely did that! So, I was one PROUD MAMA and in SHOCKED that day #2 was PLEASANTLY different than day #1! Whoo hoo!!! And, today was the first day she DIDN'T want to wear a diaper. She even said, "no mommy, those are for babies!" I had told her that over and over, but she never bought into it until today! However, we are still going to wear them for bedtime/naptime- I am not THAT crazy yet! :) We had told her a few weeks ago that we would go to the store and get the Minnie Mouse Panties that we saw once she started going potty in the big girl potty, and that little stinker REMEMBERED! Tonight she grabbed her blankie and a purse and headed for the door saying, "Let's go get Minnie Mouse mommy!!" Yes, sweetheart, we will go, probably tomorrow! So, Day #2 was a COMPLETE success! SO proud of my sweet girl!

Day #3: Today was day #3 of potty training. I have to admit, I was VERY nervous starting out today. Why? Because I was telling my mom how WELL she did on day #2 and she warned me over and over that it will TAKE TIME and to not worry if she goes backwards! So, I was PRAYING she remember how much fun potty time was on day #2!! So, we started the day with getting naked again, and she picked it right up again!!! She started going right away, and getting so excited every time! Let me tell you, this girl is feeding LOTS of children with her potty abilities!! :) (Makes me smile!) Then she quickly reminded me that we needed to go to the store to get her "Minnie Mouse Panties" so we got ready to go. I was torn, because she was doing so well, but I wasn't ready to leave the house w/o a diaper yet, so we put one on. She was NOT a fan, so I told her to try to keep it dry, and we will take it back off when we got home. She was distracted by her wanting the panties! :) So we went to the store, got them, and came home to try them on! She LOVES them. She wore them around, then pulled them down and sat on the potty and continued to go!! She was having a GREAT day, all until we played outside tonight. We made her go potty RIGHT before we went outside, took her potty out with us, and told her CONSTANTLY to tell us if she had to go potty. But, no use, she did have a small accident! :( Poor girl was so sad about it. So, we took a bath and continued naked around the house. She was wanting a treat, and went potty throughout the night. I was getting worried though, because she hadn't gone poopy all day...I was worried she was holding it again. But then, as soon as she started playing ball will daddy, she realized something! She had to go, ran to her potty, and in like 5 SECONDS (and I am totally NOT exaggerating!) she had gone! SO PROUD of herself, she jumped up and down, screaming POOPY! She called her Grammie and got a treat! I am so proud! So, all in all, today was a TOTAL success, all except one accident outside, but I'll take it!!!!

Now, I don't doubt that she will still have accidents, and she still wears her diaper at night time, but she is turning into my BIG GIRL! Kyle and I looked at each other tonight and he said, "Did she just grow up overnight?" Yes, I believe she did! I had a moment of a LITTLE sadness today realizing she is growing up and not my little girl anymore, but my BIG girl. But, I am SO proud of her!! Who knew that getting coins to help feed starving children and trail mix would motivate this precious girl to use her potty! I am overjoyed!! "Bye Bye Potty!!!"