I am THRILLED to announce that Potty Training Round 2 has been a SUCCESS!!!
Remember how badly Round 1 went? Well if you don't, I give a detailed play-by-play here:)
This time around there really were a couple of things that made all the difference in our success (yes, I am considering this just as much my success as hers haha).
OUR THREE KEYS TO SUCCESS
-I was determined to figure it out this time
-We used the 'naked' approach
-'Dry Checks' were our measure of success (and reward)
Having attempted this twice now, I believe as much as the child must show signs of readiness, THE PARENT HAS TO BE READY! Sure, Emrie has matured a bit since the last time we tried, but her readiness signs were no better than last time. I am the one who found diapers convenient and wasn't quiet ready to deal with a toddler dragging me to every bathroom at inconvenient times. I am the one who didn't want to bother cleaning up 'accidents'. I am the one who was still getting the hang of having two kids. Okay, you get the picture. I wasn't ready. But now I am (and some serious nudging from daddy who pays for the diapers might have helped).
When we started out Friday morning, we had four accidents and NO successes. My girl friend suggested I take Emrie's underwear off because she might be getting a false sense of security. I decided that after running some errands (I put a pull up on her. I had to get some things done for my own sanity!) she would take a nap and we would start fresh after nap time.
During nap time, that same awesome friend, suggested I read this article from Little Llamas. She talks about everything from readiness signs, to preparation, to how to handle accidents.
If Emrie's AHA moment was having no underwear on, my AHA moment was changing my goal from peepee in the potty to keeping dry underwear!
When she woke up from her nap (dry), I gave her a sticker for having a dry diaper. We immediately went to the toilet and she peed, but barely a dribble. I praised her and gave her a candy bar (okay, I may have gone a little over the top, but I was excited!). Then I left her underwear off. I set the timer for 20 minutes to check again. The timer didn't even go off and she told me she needed to pee again. Sure enough she went right in an peed (another candy bar!).
The rest of our day consisted of her running around the basement without pants or underwear and me checking every 20 minutes if she was dry. If she was dry she got another sticker. If she went in the potty she got a candy bar (they were the fun size, don't worry).
Other than an accident in church the first weekend she was potty training, Emrie literally has not had an accident since. If she were to have an accident, I would follow the suggestion from the article and have her clean up the mess and change her underwear. Accidents happen right, no reason to shame them for it, just clean it up and move on.
Emrie was pretty proud after her first day at preschool and she stayed dry all day!
This worked for us, hopefully it might give hope to another mom who was just like me 6 months ago!
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