Hello there! Well I've been cooped up with our daughter since Friday, taking this long holiday weekend to work on potty training. Hooray! (eye roll) And she and I both deserve a medal, or a shopping spree. Honestly, it has been pretty seamless, its just booooooring and a bit frantic at times. But as the husband and I suspected, she was very ready for this. In fact I would have tackled this over Christmas break if we hadn't gone to Alaska... since then finding a good chunk of time has been the only thing I was waiting for, that and a time when none of us were under the weather, which has been constant since the beginning of January.
ANYWAY, sorry to ramble, as you know I haven't had much contact with anyone else in the last few days!
What I know about Potty Training: First, I read this awesome e-book
"Oh Crap Potty Training" by Jamie Glowacki. It was very informative, not to mention had me laughing out loud. She offers different approaches for different age groups, which was very helpful. And she also dives deeper into certain areas- IE: a whole chapter on poop! yippee!
Jamie also speaks about signs that indicate if your child is ready to potty train. Basically- can they sing their abcs? Can they help out around the house? Etc etc... not to mention do they seek privacy when they need to go, or tell you when they need to go or if they just went. Essentially it's about giving them a sense of empowerment and self respect. If they can help you clear the table then they don't need to sit in their own waste. And so on.
Obviously I recommend reading the book!
Our daughter is doing great, as expected she understood the concept right away and actually does best when left on her own. IE: I would do the dishes and thats when she uses the potty. We've only had 2 accidents in the 4 days we've been at this, which is pretty awesome. I know one of them could have been avoided with a bit more planning. IE: I tempted fate to have her help me wash the dishes before she went on the potty. All that running water, so cruel! This isn't to say i didn't ask her to go, I had but well.... working on this with a 2 yr old can be challenging at times and a matter of wills.
So that's what I've been up to! I would take her out on more tiny test errands if our 2nd car wasn't in the shop. But she went out with her Dad on Saturday night and did great! The next test will be returning back to school on Wednesday sans diaper! And then eventually we will night train and get her off of diapers completely. A pretty exciting milestone for parents. I'll report back!
