Charlie is Potty Trained!

Charlie is officially potty trained!! He was very resistant for a long time, and being such an agreeable kid in all other aspects, it felt wrong to force him into it. I don't think he was scared, just not ready. Then right before Thanksgiving, he agreed to give it a try, and we have been diaper-free ever since. 

I was hesitant to start the process right before the holidays, but he did awesome. Dry through the night almost immediately and it only took a few days to get the hang of it in the day. I'm sure being almost 4 made a big difference, but either way we are still proud of him. Last week he picked out a little voice changer from the Discovery Center gift store as a reward for 10 days of no accidents. You're a big kid now Charlie!!

Potty Training Time for Davey

We put off potty training Davey for a long time. We had the potty, we had the underwear, he showed all the signs of being ready, but I just wasn't feeling it. Although I hate paying for diapers, they do make life so much easier.  After Davey's 3rd birthday, however, we were out of excuses and I knew it was time. 

On April 1st we ditched the diapers and so far things have gone really, really well! He had a few accidents the first day, and now things are mostly good. There was one regression day a week in (6 accidents, including 2 in his bed), but luckily that was not normal and we haven't had another day like it since. After less than a month he will tell me when he needs to go, and sometimes just go take himself if I'm busy with Charlie (I don't encourage this, but prefer it to having an accident). He even stayed dry every day last week - we are so proud of him!!

The first thing he did after putting on his new Paw Patrol underwear was climb up on the bathroom counter to check himself. He said, "Mommy, these panties are so cool!"

Davey is a big boy now!

Potty Training - The Adventure Continues

We are three weeks in now and have spent what probably amounts to hours sitting with her by the potty, but it's going well!  She still has accidents when we forget to take her to the bathroom, but the incident free days are starting to outnumber the accident days. I feel like we'll probably be in this phase for a few months, or more, before she really gets it and we can say she's officially potty trained. But I'm not complaining! Our last box of diapers has about 20 left and I'm thinking I won't have to buy another when it runs out - hallelujah!

We've had her stay in panties during naps for the last couple weeks and she's done really well, so now we only use diapers at night, and more often than not she wakes up dry. I also noticed that she was starting to loose interest in the little M&Ms we were using as rewards, so I switched to Pez and that has been HIGHLY motivating for her. Now the trick will be weaning her off candies :)

She still likes to take a few "friends" to keep her company

So long diapers...

We are one week into potty training and I haven't had this much anxiety about anything since she was a newborn - how long has it been? how much has she had to drink? can we risk a trip out of the house?? BUT, it is going well!

Last week I was off work and I decided to go for it. There are a hundred methods out there for potty training, but I just switched her straight to panties and we've been figuring things out along the way. She had eight accidents the first day and cried for her diapers, but we stuck to it and things have gotten better. We've had only one horrible incident so far (panties went straight into the restroom garbage) and are now down to just one, and sometimes zero accidents a day.

I have to stop our play and take her to the potty 90% of the time, but I'm hoping with practice she will learn how to tell on her own when it's time to go. To keep her motivated she gets to bring a small toy with her to the potty, receives a mini M&M after each successful trip, and we bought her some Frozen panties at the store. We are still using diapers for naps and night until our current diaper box runs out. We are so proud of you Sophie!

She's a big kid now! 

(Only we can't say it to her face, because she is very literal and says that she is a little girl and mommy and daddy are big)