Potty Training News Flash

If you've talked to us at any time in the past few months, you all know that we've been trying to get Isabelle familiar with the potty. We originally tried to get her going before we had Simon but since she refused at the time, we decided to postpone potty training until well after Simon was born.

When Simon was about 4 months old, we decided that it was time to give it a try again. I felt horrible about the monstrous pile of diapers we were throwing into the garbage each day and thought it was time. She was obviously ready to go; showing signs of knowing exactly when she had to go #2 by running away and hiding. We kept talking about it and let her sit on her potty but she never actually produced anything. I wasn't quite sure what we could do to get her going. We tried the sticker chart and the rewards (or more like bribery) but she just refused to go.

Then a few weeks ago, I told her that I was not going to buy any more diapers for her. She said she understood and we put her in underwear. We also stopped using her little potty and we ended up purchasing a soft seat that sits right on top of a regular toilet (she expressed strong aversions to the little potty and wanted to sit on the regular toilet). Over the past couple of weeks, she had a few accidents and would actually wait to go until we put diapers on at night or during nap time.

Finally one night, I was just determined to get her to go. I sat her on the potty and talked to her for some time. I also poured warm water (a whole bucket) down her front side to let her feel what it was like to go and... VOILA!!!! She went #1 for the very first time in the potty!! I have never seen her so proud of herself. It was a major breakthrough. The following day, there wasn't much success as we spent the entire day out with friends but the day after that, it was like a lightbulb clicked on in her head. She actually enjoyed going to the bathroom and spent the entire day telling me when she had to go #1 AND #2!! It was amazing!

It has now been about 4 days since that miraculous day and all is still going well but she is less enthusiastic about going. She also hasn't gone #2 since that day but waits until we put a diaper on her at night to go and then proceeds to tell us that she's gone. She spends all of her waking hours in underwear and continues to go #1 on the toilet so this small little speedbump in the grand scheme of things is not a really big deal. To me, she's come a million miles from when we first started and we are so proud of her. She'll eventually get the rest of it. Way to go Momomunchkin...you're a big girl now!!