We have been super busy around here with things.
I thought I'd take the time to post about our potty training plan though.
For starters, we bought a potty for N when she was younger than 12 months to get her used to it. I would occasionally let her sit on it when I was going. She was very proud of herself. She even peed a couple times. I went back and forth with myself on whether to really put effort in as we got closer to my due date with little E. N was about 16-18 months old, we were moving, and I'd read about regressions so I didn't push too hard. Although, I would've loved to be at least partially done with diapers at the time. Well, now she is 25 months. She had made some progress with our very relaxed, keep the potty in the living room, and give her a little candy if she decided to go on her own method. She did regress shortly after E's birth as I expected so I'm actually glad I didn't overdo it.
At this point, she is done with diapers, apparently. For one, she prefers to be nude 24/7. It's nearly impossible to keep her in a diaper or pull up at nap time let alone during the day. She also started calling them "baby pants" or "E's pants" and pretty much outright refuses to voluntarily lie down for a change as she has for the longest time. Oh no, she wants to be a little nudist.
For two, she has started very clearly letting me know when she thinks she needs to go. It doesn't matter if it's #1 or #2 she has shown a lot of awareness and will at least try to get the diaper/pants/underwear/dress up skirt off before she needs to go.
For three, she can communicate. She knows what the potty is and what it is for. She knows that she has a potty chair in the main area and a ring for the big toilet in the bathroom. She knows how to pull the little bucket out of the chair and dump it in the big potty. She knows how to remove and replace the potty ring on it's little hook at the side of the big toilet. She knows to go, wipe, flush, then wash her hands. I still help her a lot on all these points. We have a little stool for her but it is too small so she still needs help getting to the sink. Besides, she'd sit there and play in the water all day if I allowed her to do it all alone anyway.
So, with all of this. It's obviously about that time. Time to potty train. Since when do I have a toddler anyways?
I did a "Test run" several days ago to see how she'd do with a reward system. Um, awesome. Stickers for sitting on the potty and a big prize (a little thing of sparkly nail polish) for going potty and staying dry for a day.
This is going to be my system. I made up a chart. We'll buy stickers and pullups (for nap and bed, she'll wear them if there are princess on them . . .diva) tomorrow. For every time in a day she goes she gets to put a sticker up on her chart. For every FULL day she does well (day does not include nap or night time) she gets a coloring page! Amazing how very easily excited 2 year olds are by coloring. For this part I've printed several pages following a potty theme. (I'll share some of them via the links at the end) THEN, for every 7 days (or a week, but not necessarily consecutive) she goes to the potty and stays dry she gets a "big prize". I have 7 weeks on the chart with a variety of "big prizes" that steadily get more "valuable". Week 1 is new nail polish. Week 2 is a coloring book (yay dollar store!). Week 3 is a book (the potty book). Week 4 is NEW underwear she can pick out herself. Week 5 is a trip to get frozen yogurt. Week 6 is a trip to Chick-fil-a to eat and play. Week 7 we'll make a big cookie and go to build a bear (not something I'd normally go for BUT we have gift cards all ready) and she will get a "BIG GIRL" certificate which I will make up and print out.
This may sound over the top to some but I don't care. In my head, I will be celebrating so much that I want to throw a party for the universe.
So there you have it. That's my plan.
We'll see how it goes. In 2 weeks I have finals. In 7-8 weeks we'll be doing a lot of traveling.
*fingers crossed*
Here's those pages I printed:
Blue's Clues
Hand washing
Toilet paper
Pull Ups
Baby on the Potty
P.S. Parent Bonus: You can keep the little chart, the coloring pages, and put it together with some pictures of your toddler on the potty to make a little booklet. PERFECT for embarrassing them later. Show off your kiddo's skills to all their hot dates!
