Potty Training: Day 1

Day 1 wasn't terrible, but I am exhausted. And so is my baby! She went to bed at 6:15!!

She slept in by about 30 minutes today since last night was a church night. I had planned to take her potty first thing, but I am sick right now and I didn't want to hit the ground running so I brought her to bed with her milk as usual and left her diaper on (I usually do unless it has leaked because she's always in a hurry for her milk and I hate starting the day with a crying baby). We will have to change this habit anyway because Luke will be sleeping in my room, but one thing at a time!

After she drank her milk we moved to the living room and took off her pants and diaper. She discovered the new potty in there and was pretty excited to sit on it. And get off. And sit down. And get off. It is a little higher than hers so it takes some work to climb up on it, but she's getting the hang of it.

I was holding off on breakfast until she went pee-pee. So we played in the floor and read various books. And she started to go on the floor. So I scooped her up and put her on the potty. Nothing. She got up and kept playing. I bribed her with a "Signing Time" video on you tube. She sat there and watched it, but no pee-pee. After about 30 minutes I decided to go ahead and make breakfast. She came and watched me as usual and then sat down in her little travel high chair (it is the "timeout chair" and sits outside the kitchen gate) and peed! Ugh.

I told her it was okay, but that pee-pee should go in the potty and not in timeout. She kept telling me "time! time!" We took the cover off and cleaned up. I also told her she couldn't wash her hands unless she goes pee-pee in the potty. Gross? Maybe. But a great motivator. We ate breakfast and went back to playing. Normally she has independent play right after breakfast, but I wanted her to pee again before I put her in her crib. We went into her bathroom to get something and she found a book in there she wanted to read. So, I put her on the potty and read the book and she went pee-pee! YAY! Success #1! Then she got to wash her hands and play in the water for about 10 minutes.

For independent play I decided to just go for it. I put her in her crib naked with only plastic toys. Even though she had just gone, I knew she would pee in the crib. I told her to call me if she wanted to use the potty and I decided to only leave her for 20 minutes (normal IP is about an hour). About 3 minutes before I was going to get her, she screamed and started crying. Yep, pee everywhere. I expected it though. I told her it was okay and we would clean it up together. I got a Clorox wipe (don't tell my hippie side!) and gave Promise a wash cloth - I washed, she dried. Then we took the mattress out and cleaned it. She loves this because any time we change her sheet she gets to jump on the mattress while its on the floor (am I teaching bad habits here?)

While she was jumping and we were singing the monkey song, I saw a couple of drops run down her leg, so I grabbed her and put her on the potty and she went a little bit, but I didn't realize it because she got up so fast.  Back to jumping. And then she fell back against the crib and scratched her little naked butt! It was sad. She walked around holding it saying "butt, butt, butt" in a pitiful little voice that I couldn't stop myself from laughing at. At that point I noticed the pee in the potty and told her that she did a great job so she ran to the bathroom to wash her hands.

One more accident in the floor before lunch and I could tell she was getting overwhelmed. So we went ahead and ate lunch early. I think she might have a touch of my cold, and her eyes were starting to glaze over. I planned to go straight from the table to naptime, but then she TOLD ME she wanted to go. I tried to take her to the bathroom, but she wanted to go in the living room and watch more Signing Time. And she did! Success #3! More hand washing and playing in the sink. Her bathroom is a little soaked. Oh well.

She slept just short of 2 hours and woke up really upset. I waited a few minutes because sometimes when she's over tired or not feeling well (both of which apply today) she will go back to sleep. She didn't. I went in and she had pooped in her diaper. So naptime ended early. I'm glad she was upset about having poop in her diaper though. Good sign.

The afternoon was about the same as the morning. A few accidents, I think 4 successful pees in the potty. At dinnertime I knew she needed to go, but she was hungry and didn't want to. She was also excited that Daddy was home. She ended up having an accident in her highchair and didn't want to get cleaned up so she sat in it through dinner. Gross! Then she went straight to the bath. Supprisingly, she didn't pee in the tub... she asked to get out and go potty. She went in the living room potty, again because she wanted to watch Signing Time! Haha! But she went before I even turned the TV on then jumped up and ran to the bathroom to wash her hands. I think she got up before she was done though because after about 5 minutes of washing her hands she peed on her step stool.

It has been a LONG day. I am exhausted. But I think it was productive. I guess we had about 50% success (I should have actually kept track). I'm optimistic about tomorrow. We might try a walk to the mailbox or something. We might not. Wish us luck!