The Potty Training Journey Day 1

I sit down to write this blog after an exhausting day.  I read a book yesterday called 3 Day Potty Training by Lora Jensen and decided to take the leap today.  When I first heard about the book, I was really leery.  I don't want to be the one who is "trained" to RUN the child to the potty every time they need to go.  I don't want to use methods that upset H.  And I don't want to start potty training too early and end up frustrated.

There were several things I liked about this book.  (I cannot yet vouch for the truth of these things.  I will let you know in about a week if H is pottying consistently in the potty chair or not.)  I like that, although at first, you are running your child to the bathroom, by the end of day three, they are supposedly going to be taking themselves.  I like that this is a loving, gentle method.  Although you provide feedback when they have an accident, these accidents are considered (to use my teaching vocabulary), teachable moments.  The goal is to use each accident as an opportunity to teach your child how it is all supposed to work.  There is also LOTS of praise!  Even if they dribble in their panties, if any pee goes into the toilet, you get to lay on the praise!  The third thing I like is that it's a three day method.  I can't get terribly frustrated in three days.  And if at the end of three days (or however long I decide to try if it hasn't worked by day three), I can quit.

So here's how today went.  7 or 8 accidents, 2 successes.  I thought that was pretty good for the first day.  But what I found even more encouraging were the things H had learned by the end of the day.  When we started the day, if I asked if her panties were dry, she didn't know what I was talking about.  By the end, she'd tell me they were dry and we'd say "YAY!!!"  When they were wet, she'd say "wet", and ask for dry ones.

The other thing she learned was to run to her potty chair.  She was a little late, but by this evening, she'd stop everything when she realized she was going potty, stand there and potty (gotta break that!), and then run to the potty chair and sit down.  So really, we've just got to get her running there a little sooner.  :)

One more cute story about the day and then I'm off to bed.  I decided to see how much she understood, so I stopped in the middle of our playing, grabbed my tummy, and said, "I need to go potty!!  I feel it in my tummy!  Where should I go??"  She took my hand and ran me to the bathroom and pointed to the toilet and said, "Mama, potty!"  It was too cute!  :)

So overall, we're just having fun with it.  Hopefully she'll be potty trained soon, but if not, I really won't regret this time.  We're spending lots of mommy/daughter time and my floors are cleaner than they've been in months.  :)