I was home alone this weekend, Travis was in New Orleans for a wedding, and I decided it was a good weekend to try and potty train the girls. Yes, I know they are only 20 months old, but they have been telling me when they need to go, or sometimes right after they have gone, and we bought a little potty a while ago and they now have fun sitting on it and playing on it. So I thought, just maybe, they would be receptive. I had mentioned it to their doctor last month at their checkup and his suggestion was to start putting them on it about 5 times a day, at around the same time every day. I have not been that good about doing that and I need to work on this approach a little more. But since we weren't really going anywhere this weekend, I decided to try my mom's approach, which had me successfully potty trained at 19 months. We bought "big girl" panties so they would know when they were wet, and I put them on Camille. Originally, I had planned to train them both, but Charlotte just wasn't interested...so I decided to start with Camille. Once I showed her the Cinderella panties, she refused to let me even put a diaper back on her! Then I used my sister-in-law Kim's technique, and told her we didn't want to get Cinderella wet, so she needed to tell me when she needed to go to the potty. For several hours I asked her at regular intervals whether she needed to go potty. Finally, she looked up at me and said "poop", which is her code for pretty much anything potty related, so off we went to the potty. She switched back and forth between the two pottys that we have, and finally she peed quite a lot in it! I got so excited, I was singing, dancing, clapping, hugging, and she was grinning ear to ear. I thought wow, this is easy! Fast forward a few hours, and she tinkled in her panties (just a little) so we changed underwear...then after lunch she peed a river all over the tile floor (thank goodness she missed the rug) and as I rushed her off to the potty, sat her on it, and then ran back to the living room to cover the puddle up, I was too late. Charlotte was on her hands and knees in the puddle sloshing it everywhere!!! Disgusting!! So one bath later, one nasty puddle cleaned up, both girls were back in diapers in time for their nap! And then we went over to play with their cousin Claire, and the next day we were at church, so she hasn't been back in panties. But I refuse to be defeated! We will continue with the panties in the afternoons when I am home with them and hopefully she will catch on soon. And I have a feeling once Camille is consistently going then Charlotte will soon follow. I welcome any and all tips and tricks :)
Modeling the "big girl" panties...
I asked her, "Camille, where is Cinderella?"
Charlotte wanted on the potty because her sister was, but then hated every second of it...a good example of why she is not ready! (and yeah, those are mardi gras beads around Camille's neck that Travis brought back...because you must wear your finest jewelry to do your business!)
You're WAY ahead of us! I haven't even given potty training a thought yet!
ReplyDeleteWow! I will be following closely on this one .. as with Lindsey - we aren't even close to this. We have some big changes coming this summer for our family and so I am thinking I should wait until the dust has settled, but I just even struggle to know "how to know" when the girls are ready.
ReplyDeleteI just figure I'm going to have to ease into this...and with two, I figured I ought to get a jump on this! And, Camille especially is talking about it a lot. And they are getting more stubborn by the day, so I thought maybe I'd have better luck before we are in full swing in the midst of the terrible two's!
ReplyDeleteSorry Trisha. I forgot to mention that you liked to read a book while sitting on the potty. And I'm pretty sure I have some photos of that, but I promise I won't put on FB. :)
ReplyDeleteTrish, we also have a little potty in the house but James only likes to sit on it completely clothed. With his stuffed animals. In other news, I love the girls' accessories :)
ReplyDeleteThat last picture is priceless! :) Our girls are 29 months, and Baby A just trained over the past month or so. She's had a couple of "leaks" (the seat of her undies getting wet), but no major accidents! Baby B is another story, though...she asks to sit on the potty, but doesn't do anything. :) I will probably try to encourage her a little more soon. I think she understands, but maybe is a little scared to "let go" all the way?
ReplyDeleteI've written several posts about our approach, and my coping mechanisms (HA!), since Easter weekend if you'd like to check them out.
We only had one big pee-pee mess, when Baby A tried to empty her little potty herself. It was everywhere! Fortunately my hubby was home and was able to grab B, though, so at least I only had one baby (and floor) to clean. :)
Thanks so much for stopping by my blog! I look forward to getting to know you! Really enjoyed your beach pictures, too. We haven't taken the girls to the beach yet, and it may be next summer before we brave that big of a trip, but I am so looking forward to it!