Sweet Success

And when I say sweet, I mean SWEET!!! Jordyn has gone diaper less for 3 days (except wearing them to sleep). She's still having a few accidents, about 1 a day. Today, she made it to the gym, 2 grocery stores, and most of the day without having an accident. She's doing so well, that we're even going to attempt to go to church diaper less (wish us luck!). I've had a few people ask for hints and tips on potty training and to be honest, I don't have many. Jordyn has pretty much potty trained herself. We got her a potty chair just after her 1st birthday, and it's sat in the bathroom ever since. She'd go sit on it and she'd play with it, but for the longest time it was nothing but a new toy. A couple of months ago we started putting her in "big girl panties" when we were at home, and that usually ended up with a wet spot on the carpet. Then about a month ago she was watching a movie (and wearing her panties) and Erik told her not to be on the couch. A few minutes later she went up to Erik and said, "don't pee on couch." Erik being the great dad that he is took it as a sign and ran her into the bathroom where she went on her potty. She was so excited and proud of herself (and the fact that she got money as well made the whole thing that much sweeter). A few days later while she was running around in panties again she told me that she needed to go potty, so I told her to go, she came back a few minutes later and said she'd gone on the potty. I went to check and sure enough she'd gone; she did the same thing again later that day. From then on, we were more consistent about keeping her out of diapers while at home. Once she got to where she wasn't have many accidents at home (if any at all) we decided to try quick trips to the store in panties (trips to get 1 item, or even trips to get ice cream cones for being such a big girl). Finally, earlier this week we decided to be brave and take her on a LONG outing with her panties on. We were headed to see Houston's mounted patrol horse and figured that if she had an accident in the barn no one would care (or really notice for that matter). She did GREAT! No accidents at all. We got a bit over excited and took her to Wal-mart later that evening and she humbled us by having an accident in the middle of the store. We have since learned that we have to take her to the bathroom when we first get into the store and then again before we leave the store (and if it's a long trip make her go again in the middle of the trip). So that leads us to today, day 3 of no diapers. She got a "pineapple juice" after the gym since she kept her panties dry. She still has a few accidents now and then, but overall she's doing great. Here are a few things that I've learned from this experience that might help, but then again they might not because each little one is different. Good luck!

- Pull-ups are not worth the money, Jordyn treated them the same as diapers and didn't even attempt to make it to the potty when they were on.

- Money is a great reward; small candies & stickers didn't work for Jordyn (ice cream cones or other sweets that aren't given on a regular basis work well also)

- Be prepared for accidents and understand that they happen

- Don't tell your little one "don't go pee in your panties" all they hear is "pee in your panties" and that's what you get. Saying "remember, we go pee in the potty" works much better.

- give them praise for even trying, even if they don't go, or if they miss the potty completely. When Jordyn has an accident we still say "Thank you for letting me know that you needed to go potty" (her accidents are usually due to her not telling us soon enough that she needs to go).

That's all I can think of, but as this is still a work in progress for us I will update if I think of anything else.