Potty Training

Shortly after Ella's second birthday we decided it was time to try potty training. At first I looked at potty training as a YIPPEEEE...no more cost for diapers (at least until the baby arrives), but then it made me a bit sad. Potty training is an important step from infancy to early childhood. It's a sign of growing up, so as parents we also need to be ready to grow along with Ella........after all, potty training is only the beginning!

I didn't have high hopes of her mastering it, I just wanted to introduce a potty to her and start talking about being a big girl. After some suggestions from other mommy friends we went with two different potties. I try and give Ella choices a lot. I find that she feels more in control if I give her a choice. I do limited these choices however. I certainly don't ask if she'd rather have M&M's or apples as a snack! I read in one of my parenting books that the choices you give your child should all be ones you would be happy with them choosing. So when it came to starting the potty process I thought giving her the choice of using the big potty like mommy and daddy or the special one for her would help.

We settled on the BabyBjorn Toilet Trainer that fits right on our toilet and the Fisher Price Ducky Fun 3-in-1 potty. I wasn't going to go with a potty that sang and played music just for going in it, but after some suggestions I thought maybe it might encourage Ella to sit on it more. It doubles as a step stool for washing hands or getting up on the toilet when using the other potty seat and I am very happy with both purchases!

In the beginning it was very slow!! I would ask Ella if she wanted to give either potty a try. Mostly she stuck to the "ducky potty" as we called it. Then I swithced to giving her an M&M each time she did something on the potty. She was so motivated for that one M&M that she would sit there FOREVER while we read book after book. She was determined to go and she only ever peed on it. We even got to the point where she would say Go Potty, but this was always AFTER she had pooped in her pants.  I tried to remain positive and praise her for at least saying she went potty.

Then about the beginning of December she wanted NOTHING to do with the potty. I couldn't get her to sit on it during the day at all!! I thought we had made so much progress but decided to give it a break for a bit.

The more I let her escape trying the potty the more I realized she really was ready to try but rather to busy to stop what she was doing to sit on it. We have been in full swing of using the potty for about 2 weeks now.

I got all my supplies ready this time! Stickers, pull-ups, and informational books!

I made Ella a special chart to put her stickers on. I found the toilet template through a google search. I drew 6 boxes inside. After filing one potty with 6 stickers she gets to pick a special prize. We bought some lollipops and both Dora and Tinkerbell fruit snacks.....her favorite treats!!

The basket of books next to her potty was filled with only library books. These books are only looked at and read when sitting on the potty. They are changed every other week to keep her interest while she sits there. Everything was a hit!!!

Sometimes its more of a playtime.....

potty time before a bath

 And we usually need to bring everything but the kitchen sink in with us.....

Blankets because she always says she's cold and insists on wrapping up in them, lego blocks, little people....pretty much whatever she is playing with at the time. We've even played the piano while on the potty!

Unfortunately I haven't seen any more progress then our first attempt at it.  The pull ups were a hit at first but now I'm finding she just goes in her pull up and doesn't even care. As much as it's hard watching Ella grow up so quickly, I'm ready for her to be out of diapers. With only 4 1/2 months left before baby # 2 arrives it looks like we might just go straight to underwear and see how she reacts.

Any advice from you other mommies out there???