Potty Training: The First 24 Hours *WARNING....potty training is ugly business*

We tried a hybrid of the popular "Three Day Training Method" and the "ask your kid to try every 10 minutes for the rest of your life" method.  We are asking Whitney to "Tell us when you have to go!" repeatedly......a lot.  I mean, like, a gazillllllion times an hour. Oh, and we are relying heavily on the "Prayer Works" method.



I always wondered when/if I would get to use that little baby formula container again. PERFECT for dispensing M&Ms :)


I got a wild hair and decided to jump feet first into this potty training thing for several reasons. I have read (multiple times) that it is harder to potty train a girl after two-and-a-half.  Whitney can be pretty strong-willed, but is still able to be persuaded when we need her to cooperate.  We don't bribe Whitney with toys or snacks, so I wasn't really sure about offering her M&Ms or treats or stickers, since I sorta think pottying is a life skill and not really "award-winning" material.  However....I quickly changed my mind when I realized our girl was lovin' some M&Ms, and I am not above bribery...we just don't use it on a regular basis.

Also, I always said that I would send Whitney to preschool when she is potty trained since I didn't necessarily want some "stranger" changing her diaper. (For Whitney's sake AND the preschool teacher!) Now that Ive enrolled Whitney in preschool, I figured I'd at least give training a decent try before her first day in August. 

Then I started thinking about how BIG Whitney is getting.  She is heavy to lift, wants to jump up and down on her changing pad (which sits on glass on top of her dresser), and let's be honest.....she eats a LOT of food. A LOT.  And what goes in, must come out.  Enough said.

So all those factors, combined with the memory of a second-grader I taught who still wet her pants, made me sorta jump at the idea of training Whitney next weekend when Eric goes on his annual "Man Trip" with his dad and brothers.  I figured Whitney and I could tackle potty training the Three Day way while Daddy enjoyed relaxation and time doing manly things.  I was excited at the thought of Eric returning home to an excited Whitney racing to the door yelling, "I go on the potty, Daddy!!!!!"

And then , that dream was gone.  I talked with some of my awesomely experienced mommy friends, and aside from a few skeptics, they were all SOOOO reassuring and helpful and FULL of great tips and advice for a successful training experience.  I was given a book on the "Three Day Method", and it was 40 pages long.  Seriously.  40 pages.  And it was inTENSE!  So I knew I might need to enlist Daddy's help on this one. If not to actually HELP in the physical sense, then at least to cheer us on and pat me on the back and refill my wine glass.  :)

I kid.  This is an alcohol-free parenting adventure. :) (NOTE: we are only on Day One...)

Since Eric's man trip is next weekend, and we don't have anything planned this weekend, Eric was thrilllllllled to come home from work to learn that THIS is the weekend the training begins (and hopefully ends!)  I hid the diapers (the method calls for you to throw them out.  Umm...I'm committed....but I'm not STUPID.), put away the changing pad, and put Whitney in some Snow White panties when she woke up from her nap. 
Now, every single time Whitney has worn panties in the past, she has been SOOO excited. This time? I excitedly asked Whitney "Do you want to put on your favorite Snow White panties????!" , and she replied, "ummm, NO!"  First. time. ever. 
So against her wishes, we got this show on the road.  Hold your breath and jump right in, right?

We officially commenced panty-wearing at 2:30pm on Friday.  We had 7 pairs of princess panties waiting for us, but I knew we needed back-up. (The 40-page book told me so!) So Eric, the amaaaazing husband and daddy he is, headed up to Walmart for M&Ms (again, I'm not stupid), 3 packages of panties in varying themes, and some flushable wipes (not required or even recommended, but seems cleaner/easier to me.) 
Eric left around 3pm and by the time he came home, Whitney had killed all 7 pairs of panties at least once.  When we surpassed pair #4, I thankfully thought ahead and threw the wet undies in the washing machine.  They were dry just moments before Eric walked through the door with reinforcements.  And by the time the Tinkerbell, Rapunzel, and Minnie Mouse troops were washed and dried, Whitney was ready to break them in, too!
Yep, that's right.  Whitney went through no less than 18 (EIGHTEEN) pairs of undies in less than 5 hours.  18, folks.  But my trusty mommy friends reminded me not to give up, that she could do this, and that it takes 3 DAYS, not 3 HOURS.
Eric sheepishly asked me if we "were allowed" to put our daughter in a diaper for bedtime since "we didn't REALLY give it a FULL day of effort today" and certainly no one should be penalized overnight since *I* was the genius with the crazy idea.  So, with permission from one of my biggest cheerleader mommies, we went ahead and put Whitney in her last nighttime diaper (hopefully!) and laid her in her big girl bed with talks of big girl panties and the big girl potty and keeping Minnie and the princesses dry all day tomorrow.

So her first day was really only 4 hours or so, but it beat me up.  Physically, I was tired from SPRINTING to the potty every 14 seconds.  And emotionally, I was second guessing myself all night.  Is she ready? Will she get it?  Will I ever be able to leave the house again?  I wonder how long Taavon waited to leave the house? I wonder if Mindy thought it was easy because she had Kaylee to help with Kendall? I wonder if Krystal is right and I should let Whitney go commando?  All. night. long. 

Whitney was "getting it", but still needed to put the pieces together.  She had no less than 6 popsicles in those 4 hours, and was very consistent about telling us "UH!! I gottagopotty!!!!!" as she would RUN to her bathroom.  Unfortunately, she was catching herself after she had already started (normal...she IS just learning this, and diapers have prevented her from ever feeling this madness, so I was glad she at least NOTICED!), so by the time she was pulling panties down, it was all over.  We would still praise her for telling us, give an M&M (which she INSISTS "hey! Dey have 'E' on dem!!" as she looks at the "M" sideways), and remind her to tell us BEFORE she starts going.
Aaaaand, did I mention we went through 18 pairs of undies?? In four hours????  Yeah.

So we all went to bed like normal last night, but unlike other nights, I was awakened at 4am to an unhappy Whitney.  She had seemingly peed the Mississippi River in her diaper, and was sitting in a soaked big girl bed.  I guess she had been trying to hold all those popsicles in, and once she relaxed and fell asleep, the puddle formed.  So I quickly changed her, changed her sheets, and got her happily back in bed without incident.  I then proceeded to lay awake from 4am to 6am, half kicking myself and half psyching myself up for the battle that I anticipated at 7am when our Pottytime Princess would awake for the day.

This is what our day looked like on my little legal pad of Pottying Details:

7:35am - "Rosetta" panties on!
               cup of milk
7:50am - dry, try on potty, M&M for effort
               cup of milk, 2 eggs, 1/2 banana, 1/2 apple (at this point, Eric and I were imaging the inevitable "What goes in must come out" and cringing/gagging.....but we cant exactly stop feeding her! So carry on, we did.)
8:50am - dry, try on potty, M&M for effort
(We must have told her/asked her 800 times "Tell us if you have to go!" and "Do you have to go?" before 9am.  My parents stopped by since we are housebound til these shenanigans are solved, and Whitney was thrilled to show off her panties and her big girl bed.  She pulled out all 24 pairs of panties, named each character on them all, and pretended to fold them/organize them.  Then, she laid in bed with them as Imelda Marcos likely did with all her shoes. Tossing them in the air and laughing, rolling in them, and generally LOVING her panties. (Weird.) As she decided to pile them up and sit on them, Eric and I joked that she had been holding her pee for 2 hours just for this moment...so she could pile up ALL her panties and pee on them ALL at one time while shouting "SUCKERRRS!!" Didn't happen....but we wouldn't have been surprised.)

9:50am still dry, almost 2.5 hours!? (I literally wrote that on the paper)

10:09am, my parents walked out to their car
10:10am, HUGE "accident". Without warning and less than 30 seconds after Eric had asked her if she had to go, Whitney started peeing and didn't stop. She was a littttttle disappointed that "Rosetta got wet", but sorta excited to toss some Tinkerbells on next.
After that, Eric and I started pushing the water.  When that didn't work, we gave into popsicles. She sat on the couch (on a towel), watching her second Tinkerbell movie of the day (did I mention it is GORGEOUS outside!?) and eating two popsicles.  We continued asking her to tell us when she had to go, and snickered under our breath every time she angrily replied "NOOO!" I imagine its SUPER annoying for someone to ask you the SAME thing OVER AND OVER AND OVER.  We've tried to tell her that we'll stop asking when she GOES, but she doesn't care.  Finally, we KNEW her bladder HAD to be full again, so we stopped everything and marched her to the potty, encouraging her to go. (Who, exactly, is being "trained" here, folks??)  I reminded Eric that, even if she didn't go this time, if she had been wearing a diaper, I would've already changed her twice in the hours she had been awake. And the diapers would've been soaked. So she MUST be starting to realize that she can prevent the pee from coming out.  Sure enough, she marched onto that potty, sat down, and peed!!! A LOT!! So Eric and I danced and sang and gave two M&Ms and made a BIG fuss about it.  This was when I started to realize that I make a fuss out of a LOT of things with Whitney, so this whole "make a big deal about it when she finally goes on the potty" concept was going to have to be something extreeeeme.  So when Whitney happily got back to watching Tinkerbell on the couch, I promised her a doll.  Yep, I upped the ante and bribed my toddler with a "Lizzie" doll (the little girl from the latest Tinkerbell movie...Whitney is in LOOOVE with her) if she continues to go potty like a big girl.  Judge me.  G'head.  I don't care. When it works, you'll try it, too.

.....and then it was nap time.

Ugh. For a while now, Whitney would lay down for her nap and talk for a while. I would peek in to check on her, smell THAT smell, clean her up, lay her back down, and she would happily go right to sleep in less than 2 minutes. She followed that routine in her crib and carried it over to her big girl bed.  It was easy to predict and easy to manage....in diapers.  Today, I put Whitney in her least-favorite pair of panties, as I KNEW what was about to happen, laid her in bed for her nap with instructions to call me when she had to go potty. Twenty minutes later, our girl was still talking. I peeked in her room, reminded her to call me when she had to go, she said "ok, mommy!" and I walked out.  Twenty minutes later, lather.rinse.repeat.  Nothing.  FIVE MINUTES after I walked away from her room, I smelled it.  Those poor Rapunzel panties never saw it comin'.  (Neither did the floor, but I'll spare you...sorta.) The Rapunzel panties quickly found their way into the trashcan (Brilliant idea, Laura!) and we carried on...

So with THAT outta the way, our girl is finally able to take a snooze.  I'm hoping her little brain is processing alllllll these big kid tasks she has to take on when she wakes from her slumber.  Because Mommy has a Taylor Swift concert to go to tonight....and while I didn't intend to have any drinks, I am thinking poo on the carpet might warrant a beer or two. 

So, we are officially 24 hours into this process.  The stats so far:
Friday: 18 accidents, 0 success
Saturday: 2 accidents, 1 success

So, now that she has proven several things:
*she CAN hold it
*she CAN let it go at the appropriate time
*she DOES recognize when it is happening
I am thinking the last and most important piece is for Whitney to figure out how to catch it BEFORE it starts. I think she is on the right track.


I know you are holding your breath in anticipation of the blog posts to follow, right?  How will it all turn out?? Will she wake up dry? (no.)  Will she end the day on a high note? Will she wet the bed tonight? (yes.) How many times?!? I know.  The anticipation is killing me, too.  I'm not one for cliff-hangers either........so I promise to come back with all the fabulous details. :)

***For the record, I am fully aware that I have deleted people from Face.book when they have discussed their child's potty habits too often.  Thankfully, I can say whatever I want here on my happy blog, and while face.book is a fun place to catch up and get some advice and look at pictures, THIS is where I really chronicle the life of our girl.  So if you cant hang with some potty talk over the next few posts, I DON'T BLAME YA! I hate it, too! TRUST ME! But, I think it will be funny for Whitney to read about when she is older....and potty-trained.  And, to be quite honest, I think it is absolutely HYSTERICAL to watch our family of three RACE to her bathroom in unison all weekend.  :)

And, on a cleaner, less gross note, I will leave you with a pic of Whitney on the way home from a Disney playdate on Friday (before I decided to rock her world with potty talk):