It was a Saturday morning and Shea and I were up around 6:15 am getting showered and ready for our big day. By 6:50 am we were sitting in the recliners in our living room waiting for Larkyn to wake up and begin her (our) new adventure! Potty training in 3 days...well we hoped 3! With baby #2 around the corner it was time to get at least one out of diapers. The past couple weeks we have been talking with Larkyn about wearing big girl underwear and going potty on the big potty. Any time we did the count down "2 more weeks..." she would follow it up with "NO MORE DIAPERS!" The other day she said "2 more days...NO DIAPERS!" without prompting from us. We were hoping that enthusiasm shined through for the three days to get our little lady fully potty trained!
So it all started back in December when my friend Jessi told us about this e-book by Lora Jensen called 3 Day Potty Training: Start Friday, Done Sunday! Jessi and Chris had read it and decided to potty train their daughter Hannah over Christmas Break. After a couple days of accidents, lots of laundry and plenty of patience, Hannah was potty trained. Yay!
After much discussion of trying to do the same with Larkyn over Christmas Break we decided to wait a bit until we felt we had the chance to read over the e-book more and were more comfortable with the whole idea. Once you start it is on...no diapers (they get thrown out), no pull ups, nothing special for naps or bedtime. Big girl underwear...here we come!
Though Christmas Break would have been an ideal time as far as multiple days home, I still couldn't get myself ready to do it. So looking ahead, the next long weekend we had was President's Day weekend.
So here beings Day One...
Larkyn woke up around 7:15 am. She started out the day in a diaper and her long sleeved "Bucky" tee to eat breakfast. Larkyn enjoyed a slice and a half of veggie fritatta or "Hakuna Matata" as she likes to call it:), a banana, milk and OJ (suppose to load them up on liquids to get the process going!). After breakfast we headed back upstairs to get rid of the diapers and put on big girl underwear. Larkyn went right into the bathroom and we talked about how she will be using the big girl potty. Part of the process involves reminding her very frequently "Remember to tell me when you have to go potty." "Keep your big girl underwear dry!" There is no putting her on the toilet to "try" or asking if she has to go. Our goal is to build independence and encourage her to tell us when she has to go.
So at 8:30 am we came downstairs, Larkyn with her big girl underwear on and a stack of diapers in her hands. We put those diapers, as well as all the other diapers and wipes from all of the diaper bags, into a garbage bag and took them out to the garage. (I have a hard time throwing them away, would rather give them away, so they didn't really go into the garbage at this time.)
After pushing some liquids and looking through pictures and some magazines Larkyn went potty at 9:05. Most of it in her underwear, but Shea caught her in the act and rushed her to the potty to finish. After she broke the seal, she went about every 10-20 minutes for the next hour and a half. Some were full accidents and some were caught and finished in the toilet. We had a lull between 11:20 and 1:00 though there were many "false alarm" trips to the bathroom to sit on the toilet and get right off. It may have had something to do with being distracted with our company. (My mom and Scott stopped through on their way to a wedding north of here.) At 1:00 she told us all she had to go potty and sure enough she made it and went in the toilet. YAY! So much praise and excitement was shared by all! That would be the only time she made it all day:)
I would love to say the day went on with as much excitement and success, but there were many more accidents and hundreds of trips to the potty for her to get right off again within 2 seconds. (Just a tad bit tiring!) Larkyn had a really hard time going down for a nap around 1:30 and continued to call out "potty or poopy" trying to get our attention, which in turn took away from her nap time. She finally peed in her bed around 2:45. We put her back in after cleaning up and once she calmed down from crying she just sat in there talking for the next 30 minutes. Needless to say DAY ONE...NO NAP!
By 8:30 pm and Shea and I were exhausted!!! Between running to the bathroom all day and bouncing around from coloring to play cooking to sticker books and reading, we are pooped! No pun intended:) because she never went! Larkyn was wiped out and fell asleep just after 7:00. She popped up around 8:00 and called out for us and said "potty." Shea ran up to put her on the toilet, but nothing!
Here are some pictures from the day...
Pushing the fluids...She had a lot of water and juice over the 3 days
We moved up her little blue table from the basement for her. Notice it is on the hard floor and not carpet! She loved building with her duplos.
Eating lunch with Daddy...
Coloring with Grandma Debbie...
Day Two
Larkyn woke up wet around 3:30 am. We changed her pants and sheets and put her back down to sleep. She didn't sleep well the rest of the morning, but at least went back to bed for a little bit. Day two went a little better...I was so exhausted from all the ups and downs and emotionally drained from the "Mommy, Mommy" that I decided to head to church with my mom and Scott and leave Shea and Larkyn home to train together! I think it was a good decision, as Larkyn did a great job with Shea and had more one on one attention and I got the recharge break that I needed. She started to tell him more when she was going potty, though she still had many accidents (including one poop accident). After church I went out shopping and running errands, and didn't come home until Larkyn was down for a nap. She took a longer nap on day two, though she did wake up wet. After her nap, things were pretty consistent and Larkyn was showing more signs of starting to get the potty concept. That night she took a shower with me and I told her it was okay to pee in the shower! She really didn't like that and asked to get out and ended up going on the toilet. What a rule follower! Larkyn went potty again on the toilet just before bed and fell asleep pretty quickly again. During the night if we heard her stir we went in there multiple times to grab her and put her on the toilet. Again...exhausting, but well worth it in the end. She ended up waking up in the morning wet again, but we just changed her clothes and sheets and went on with our day.
Wow...what a difference a day makes! Though Larkyn woke up wet this morning the rest of the day went surprisingly well. She did have a few accidents, but for the most part told us every time she had to go potty. She even started running towards the bathroom when she knew she had to go. We quickly realized that this helped her go once we got there. Every time we would pick her up to bring her to the bathroom it was like she lost her sensation to go once on the toilet.
On day three Larkyn's nap went very well. She went potty right before nap and stayed dry throughout. The afternoon was pleasant as well with many successful trips to the bathroom. After the third day, we were starting to get the hang of the bedtime routine and she was going potty every night before bed. She still shouted out a few times to go again as she was laying in her bed, but overall getting the concept of cleaning out before bed! Though we were exhausted after our three day experience, it was proving to be well worth our time and effort.
Look at my big girl Minnie Mouse underwear!
Playing in her kitchen to pass time...
And so on...
Though we still go into the bathroom to help her pull her pants down, prop her up on the toilet and wipe her when she is done, potty training has been a very rewarding experience with Larkyn. She was very willing to try something knew and got really good at it in a very short time. The next day was a Tuesday and she went to Tracey's and only had one accident all day...nap time! She pooped on the toilet for Tom and Tracey and told them every time she had to go pee. As the week went on the number of accidents during nap time and bed time decreased and soon we found ourselves doing less and less laundry! Larkyn has gotten really good about going potty right before nap time and staying dry. She has also done a great job going potty just before bed. Before Shea and I go to bed we have been taking her to the bathroom (she is completely asleep/out of it and sits on there bent over with her head resting on Shea's knees-he sits on the edge of the bathtub). It is super precious and the best part is that she actually goes quite a bit. We believe this has been helping her stay dry over night and hope to ween her off of this sooner or later, but for now it is working! One thing we have really learned in the last couple weeks is that some of her best dance moves come out when she has to go, but she is working on keeping that bladder strong and has learned how to hold it better each day!
No comments:
Post a Comment