Potty Training

OK, so I am writing this primarily to be an encouragement to myself with any future children we may have one day.  I am telling myself now: Don't give up! :)

I decided to start trying to potty train Anna Ruth the first of December.  She was a few weeks shy of turning two, and the Almanac said it would be a good time.  I had doubts because even though she is as smart as a whip and can easily communicate her needs and wants with me, she is also a little on the head-strong/stubborn side (which can be a very good thing as long as it's targeted toward the right things.)  But as hesitant as I was, I decided to give it a try.

I went straight from diapers to big girl panties.  My plan was to take her to the potty every 30 minutes to let her try, reward her when she did it, and be consistent.  The problem was, she has had great bladder control for a while now, and only uses it a few times a day.  This made my strategy very difficult.  I tried my best for three or four days and gave up.

After giving up and putting her back in diapers, she continued to show interest in the potty so I tried again the week after Christmas.  I really didn't want to because it was really frustrating when I started the last time (despite my efforts to keep it stress-free.) Again, she started out not doing so hot.  She was very inconsistent.  Sometimes she would go when I put her on the potty and I would be so proud, and then other times she would do it in her panties 5 minutes after I let her try to go on the potty and she told me she didn't have to.  I almost gave up AGAIN, but was so worried about confusing her.  What message would I be sending if all of a sudden I told her it was OK to start using the bathroom in her diapers again?  So I told myself to try ONE MORE TIME... Matthew had the week off from work so he was around to help.  When I potty train, I try to stay home 24/7 which was easier when Sumner was an only child but it wasn't as easy with the both of them.  So having Matthew around helped a lot.  Then to my surprise all of a sudden something clicked!  Out of nowhere she started coming to me and saying "pee-pee on potty." Once she was able to recognize on her own how it felt to need to go, she had it down pat!

Pee-peeing on the potty is 100% complete.  She never has accidents and tells me when she needs to go.  Doing #2 on the potty is a different story.  I have heard a lot of  stories of little girls being terrified of doing #2 in the potty therefore making potty training a complete nightmare.  Anna Ruth doesn't act scared however, she just isn't being very consistent with it like she is with pee-peeing.  I am not giving up though.  Every day she gets better and better and I believe as long as I stay consistent, she will get it.

Right now (1 month into potty training) she wears panties at home, but pull-ups when we go somewhere (just in case she has a #2 accident.)  ***Update as of February 2016, I started using pull-ups all the time because I was tired of changing poo-poo panties....

So, to myself in the future:
1) Don't give up. If you need to take a break and try again, that's OK!
2) Every child is different.  What works for one probably won't work exactly for the next.
3) Don't potty train in the winter.  It makes things so much easier to do it in the warmer months because there isn't as much clothing to get in the way.


***Update: As of 3/5/16 Anna Ruth has not had an accident in two weeks! Yay Anna Ruth!!!!