Potty Marathon

Vienna is about 90% potty trained. she has gone w/out diapers for the last two weeks, only wears them during naps and at night. she hasnt had an accident in the last few days, even when we were at the circus-- thank goodness for the portable potty.

but boy, was it a potty MARATHON. before starting, she shouldnt be resistant (unlike laurel, who we'll get to later), have the muscle ability to 'hold and stop' and communicate the need to go. at 21 months, Vienna was capable and momma was ready, mainly because she didnt want a battle of the wills with a 2-3+ yr old later.

1st lap- get her to recognize her bodily functions. going w/out pants really drives this point home quick but get ready for a (royal) mess. the poor elmo chairs have been peed on three times (good thing he fits in the washer). the worse poop was in the corner of the toy box (yuck)-- but remember everything is wash/steam-cleanable---even the carpet. it took her about 3 days before it 'clicked', with us constantly on guard, making she made it to the potty on time-- keeping the potty assessible helps. and yes, we didnt go out during these 3 days, other than the backyard--cause no diapers meant no more diapers (or pull-ups, which i think are the same as diapers). the first lap is the hardest, most exhausting and intense. they dont call it training for nothing.

2nd lap- get her to go IN the potty. lots of incentives for sitting on the potty: videos, books and candy---see elmo's sitting on his potty-- at one point, she sat on the potty for an hour. load her up w/liquids and eventually she went. celebrate and made it a game. we did the potty dance, high fives and let her flush and say 'bye-bye pee-pee'.

3rd lap- establish her pattern. i learn vienna has a decent size bladder. she can drink a gallon but will only go about every hr. only towards the end of the day, she will go about every 1/2 hour. so i set a timer and made sure she sat on the potty when it went off.

4th lap- she will go potty on her own. once she got into the groove of goin in the potty and not wetting her pants---that was our constant mantra 'go pee-pee and poo-poo in the potty, not in your pants'. she communicates by, pulling on her pants or just sitting on the potty. she can say pee-pee and poo-poo, but most times she doesnt. which is fine as long as there are no more accidents.

final lap- transition her to the big potty. i've slowly started moving the potty closer and closer to the bathroom down the hall. next step is getting her to go in the big potty (with elmo insert), so goin out she can use the regular public bathrooms. as for the night time training, when she starts waking up dry, is a good indication to start.

As for Laurel, she did great the first 3 days, but by the 4th she didnt want anything to do with the potty. she would run away and pee in the corner. she threw fits when we sat her on it-- even with candy bribes and the girl has a super sweet tooth. so i backed off. i'm hoping she might feel some peer pressure when she sees all the attention Vienna is getting. which i think is the explanation for the last post, Laurel stripping so she can join in the fun again (-:

and speaking of the circus, here are some pics. it was a bit of a disappointment. obnoxiously loud, we had great seats (3rd row), but the sound was almost unbearable. the animal acts were fun, but the rest of the show was a blur of 'fillers'- dancing, goofy antics. and it was a tad long for the girls, who were gettin restless mid-way. i think next yr, we'll ck out the big apple circus instead (and bring some ear plugs!)