A Year

I just realized, per this first blog post, that Amaryllis has been sitting on the potty for a year now. Wow.

As for her "real" potty training (as in the day we moved strictly to undies only), it has been 2 months. She is doing fabulous.

Naps and Night:
I still put a pull-up on at nap and an overnight diaper. She does not get "diaper confused" like the book said. She knows undies are for the day. I will not approach the nap/night wetting until later. She simply sleeps too long at night (14+ hrs) and it's not like she can get up and walk herself to the toilet. We'll tackle that later when she is older and in a big-girl bed.

Wet Accidents:
She rarely has any wet accidents. If she does, it is just a little squirt (not even enough to warrant an change of undies) and she runs to the toilet to finish up.

Pooh:
We've had our ups and downs. There was a week awhile back where she went pooh in her undies like 3 times that week. It was during Christmas vacation. I couldn't blame her--who wants to stop playing with cousins and sit on the pot? Anyways, I was SICK of it b/c it is so messy and gross. My mom overheard me scolding her and say "gosh Emily, you're so nice. Be mean to her". Up until now I haven't been mean because the book said you might make your child scared to pooh and they would become constipated. I would just softly explain that poop goes in the toliet and say it's gross to get our undies messy.

Anyways, so I got mean. I changed my tone of voice and told her from now on, if she went poop in her undies she would have to sit in time-out. She definitely knows what that means. She doesn't like time-out and the threat of it still works on her.

Pleased to say that the mean approach also worked with her. I remind her a couple times a day that if she needs to poop, it goes in the toilet. If she gets her undies messy she'll have to sit in time-out. I say it in a stern voice. She is very solemn and says Ok.

Since Mean Mom came into play, she has pooped on the toilet at a ratio of 3 out of 4 on an average week. The fourth time is usually when she poops in her crib/pullup during naptime. I'm ok with that b/c cleaning a poopy pull-up is way easier than a poopy underwear.

Note: she goes poop way less (about once every 2 days) than when she was a baby in diapers which I've heard is normal.

Another note: I now have a method of removing then cleaning a poopy underwear. If you ever need to know it, please ask. It is too weird to write down.

Disposition: Some days she fights me and cries on the toilet. Some days she could care less. I don't think it is toilet related, just the age (like some days she hates sitting in her carseat or stroller).

Cues: She only initiates the potty maybe 1 out of 5 times. I'm usually the one that has to ask/take her. She rarely comes to me and tells me. She still can't reach the toilet by herself, so I'm there every time. It is much faster than when we first started. There is no more sitting, waiting, coaxing, etc. Strictly business.

Next Step: I think my next goal will be to get her comfortable sitting on a regular sized toilet seat since she still uses a trainer seat. Her bum is so teeny though and her upper arm strength isn't quite there. It is annoying to carry the trainer seat around and when baby #2 comes, my diaper bag will be getting heavier. We still use and love this trainer seat since it folds compactly.

All in All: I'd say in 2 months time we have made great progress. I'm not sure if this is a normal time frame but it seems like she picked it up pretty quick. Perhaps it was because I started her out so early and she was already potty-aware?

I trust her and don't worry about her having an accident anymore. I'm glad that anxious feeling is gone for me. She can hold it for up to 3-4 hrs.

I can't believe she will be 2 yrs old next month. I'm SO SO SO glad I did the potty training thing early. It is worth it. I can see her personality developing, and I think if I had waited any longer it might have become an authoritative game.

Yes, for my next little girl, I will most likely start potty training between 18-24 months as well (assuming she seem ready). I think people underestimate toddlers this age...they are so smart and adaptable!