Emmy's a big girl!

I wish I had a better picture of her showing offer her stickers. She is so proud of them. They have doubled since I took this, but she will not let us start a new sheet. I am going to save it and show it to her one day. A forewarning. This post is all about panties, pee and bowel movements.

So it is fairly safe to say that Emily is pretty much potty trained. We decided, since Em's school was closed on the 13th, that I would take the day off and we would spend a long weekend ditching the diapers.

Let's go back in time. We had introduced the potty a while back. We never pushed her to sit on it. We let her tell us if she wanted to and we would ask on occasion if she wanted to sit. Usually before bed. A little before Christmas, we started changing her diaper on the bathroom and encouraging her to sit. Stephanie did the same at school. Every diaper change she sat on the potty. After about a week, she would pee almost every time she sat, but she was still going in her diaper. She kept that up till the day we said goodbye to the diapers for good.

Day 1
I woke her up Friday morning, explained to her that she was a big girl and we made a big to do at saying good bye to her diapers during the day and that she would only be wearing them temporarily during nap and at night. She was really excited. I told her that if she peed on the potty, she would get one sticker (kid is HIGHLY motivated by stickers) and on single fruit snack. If she went #2, that meant 2 stickers and 2 fruit snacks. We expected accidents. She made it the ENTIRE morning without one. I asked her every 30-45 mins if she wanted to sit. Sometimes she went, sometimes she didn't, but she seemed super comfortable with the whole thing. We made a routine. She would help pull her pants down, she'd sit on the potty, wipe, pull her own pants up (with help), flush, wash hands, sticker, fruit snack. In the after noon and early evening she had some accidents. We ended the day with a total of 5, but we had 13 successes!

Day 2
Same routine, except dad was here to help. She had one accident all day long. We still asked her if she wanted to go every 30-45 mins. At this point I think she was getting annoyed by us asking, but I wanted her to get in the practice. We ended day 2 with the one accident, and about 14 successes! She woke up completely dry from nap.

Day 3
Same routine. She had one accident and it was totally my fault. I went to take her and then the doorbell rang and I forgot. She immediately told me she had an accident and was really upset she peed in her Minnie panties. On Sunday she started telling us when she had to go, and we started extending the period between asking her. She pretty much caught on that if she went on the potty, even a little bit she got her reward, so we made SEVERAL trips to the potty this day. We still encouraged the practice.

With every accident, we never got mad or frustrated. We just told her that accidents happen and that she should tell us if she had to go. That next time she would make it and she would get her stickers. We also had her take off her dirty clothes and clean up any mess she made (which she really didn't). She would wipe her legs, put on new clothes and put the dirty ones in the washer.

She went to school Monday morning armed with several changes of clothes and extra pairs of panties. Steph had a field trip planned that day so we were all a little anxious. She didn't have a SINGLE accident all day and woke up completely dry from nap. We switched to yogurt bites on this day because the fruits snacks were making her constipated. She had her first # 2 in the potty on this day!

Tuesday she had an accident at school and a small one at home. We started waiting until she told us she had to go and I think she got caught up playing. She was upset about getting her big girl panties all dirty. Still lots of successes.

Wednesday she had a bit of a relapse at school. She had 2 accidents in a short period of time. Told Steph right after it happened and again was upset. She had no more accidents after that.

Thursday and Friday were accident free. She told us every time she had to go. Woke up from nap totally dry again.

Saturday Emily woke up totally dry from bed time and asked to sit on the potty right away. Zig surprised me with a date day, so Rebecca came over to watch Emily and she had 2 small accidents because I think she was having too much fun. She hasn't really had to ask anyone else to take her to the potty other than Zig, Steph and I, so I think it threw her off a little bit. She didn't take a nap this day.

Sunday again, Em woke up asking to sit on the potty. She had no accidents. She tells us every time she goes and she doesn't expect stickers or treats with every success. She woke up from nap totally dry.

We are so proud of Emily. She knows she has to go potty before she leaves the house. She is great at telling us when she needs to go, and if for some reason we can't rush her to the potty right away, she will hold it. We still have a long ways to go I am sure, but she is doing miles better that we could have ever expected or asked for. We expected lots and lots of accidents and lots of frustration, but it has not been that bad. With the number of successes she has, the statistics are in her favor. I am glad we stuck to our guns and didn't go back to diapers after the accidents and I am so glad that we went cold turkey to big girl panties and didn't go the pull up route. We made a commitment and we are sticking to it. Today (Monday) she will not wear a diaper at nap time. Once she starts waking up dry from bed time consistently, we will ditch the diapers all together. She hasn't had a # 2 accident since Tuesday. My kid is a champion pooper! I worried that was going to be the hardest part.

Way to go Emily! At a little over 25 months, you are pretty much potty trained!! We love you Angel!