Potty Training with Pooters and Potty Wise

Meet my dear old friend, Pooters. (Don't ask me how I came up with that name). I got this stuffed hippo for Christmas when I was maybe 10 years old, and he's been with me through thick and thin. His butt and hands are filled with beans, and he's so squishy and huggable- love him! Anyways, I passed him on to Cami, and we decided he would be the perfect potty training buddy who would model all the steps for her in the beginning. Mainly because his butt was the only one big enough of all her dolls to fit into panties. :)

The method I decided to follow was Potty Wise by Gary Ezzo. He's the one who's written Baby Wise, etc. Mainly because my friend just did it with her daughter and she had great success, and because it's easier to follow an "expert's" method than try to do it on my own. So I got the book from the library, took a couple hours to read it (super easy and short), and chose the day that we would start the adventures. The reasons we wanted to knock this out now were a) Cami's been interested in the toilet and her potty seat for a few months now, b) She learned to pull down her pants and had all the other signs of readiness, and c) This baby's coming in 4 months and I wanted to get Cam out of her diapers before then!

So the basics of Potty Wise are: You block out 1-4 days to focus ONLY on potty training, so I chose last Tuesday to start, just cuz it was totally free. You put a doll in panties and have them be the "model", starting with giving them a drink from a sippy cup, checking to see if they're still dry, putting them on the potty, pretending that they go pee, washing their hands, the whole shebang. Then you turn to your toddler and ask if they want to do the same thing, and most likely they'll be excited to do it. Then throughout the day and days to follow, you REWARD them for staying CLEAN and DRY throughout the day. As opposed to rewarding them for going potty, which is something that they can or can't control, and puts more pressure on them. So every so often I'd ask Cam, are you clean and dry? She'd check and say "YES!" Then she'd get a treat. Going potty is just a way for her to STAY clean and dry in her panties. Anyways, sorry if you don't want all these details, I'm just journeling it all out.

Isn't she cute in her new little panties?  

So that first day, I just had her wear panties and shorts around the house while we played, and gave her LOTS to drink. I let her choose coolade, lemonade, apple juice, chocolate milk, etc. Then every 20 minutes or so, I'd ask her if she was dry and then direct her to the potty to go pee. Let me tell you though, we went through about 6 pairs of panties that first day! She had 3 accidents to start the day off, and I just wasn't asking her in time, and she didn't know yet how to tell when or if she needed to go. But she got the hang of it quickly. Here she is in action, with the bathroom full of fun stuff to keep her interested!

Oh and we didn't buy her a little potty, we just decided to go with a potty seat on the real toilet. Mainly because I didn't want to clean out a nasty potty every time, but also so that we didn't have to transition later. HowEVER, I realize now that a potty would have been helpful, since it's more her size, less daunting, and portable, so that she wouldn't have been stuck in the bathroom every time, looking at the wall. Oh well, maybe next time we'll go with the potty.

Cheesey little lass.

 She LOVED all the rewards throughout the day. I should have taken a picture of my kitchen counter, which was full of all her favorite things. The book suggested to go to the grocery store the day or 2 before, and let her pick out some of her favorite treats/drinks, and then have them out on the counter to get her excited for the big day. We used goldfish crackers, fruit snacks, candy, peanuts, cookies, chips, etc. I know, pure junk! But hey, you only learn to use the potty once (hopefully). :) And the rewards aren't always food...sometimes just a high five made her happy, or watching Beauty & The Beast (her favorite movie) or playing a game was her treat.

I put her in Pull Ups for nap and bedtime, and call them her "sleeping panties". We didn't go anywhere for those first 2 days, and just had fun around the house. She helped me make banana bread, with Pooters by her side.

And I painted her toenails for the first time while she was sitting on the potty. :) Yeah, she smeared the polish a little but we fixed it. Look at those cute little feet!

 I must say, I was pleased with how fast she caught on and would recommend this method to anyone. The book could be more detailed and specific, since it's so short and kind of bare, but the basics are there and easy to follow. But potty training is hard work for a parent, holy cow! It's remembering to get them on the potty every half hour and sitting there and keeping them entertained with books and singing for up to 15 minutes at a time, and washing little hands over and over, dealing with accidents, etc. But I hear it gets easier!

So now, a week later, here's how we've done. She's done great and gone in several public restrooms, including the Bee's stadium, the zoo, the library, Wheeler Farm, and the park. So I'm glad she's not afraid to go when we're not home. It was so exciting when she went poop for the first time on the toilet, but it's only been a couple times (she doesn't go often anyways). And it got kind of stressful when she was holding it in this week for 3 days and complaining that her tummy hurt, and whimpering whenever she sat on the toilet cuz she didn't want to go. That was hard. How do you demand that someone go poop, anyways? But hallelujiah, it happened (haha...isn't all this pee and poop talk great), and we rejoiced, and had an ice cream cone party yesterday.

Ahhh the pure goodness of drippy chocolate ice cream in the grass on a sunny day.

So yay, we still deal with accidents, but we're on the way and it's going well. And I'm exhausted.