strawberry ice cream for breakfast

***updated below***

we're not really officially potty training.  as you'll remember, though, we began cloth diapering again in part due to our hopes that it would lead to earlier potty training desires in our z.  we haven't and don't plan to push it on z in any way.  we're hoping with some encouragement she'll just naturally want to do it.  doesn't everyone? 

my sister tried that approach with my niece, as she approached two and a quarter and her baby brother was scheduled to make his appearance.  my niece decided that thick, soggy, wet underpants were totally fine with her.  so my sister, desperate to not have two kids in diapers, enforced a strict potty training routine and soon little miss o was peeing on the potty all the time - no accidents.  but that came at a price, in my mind.  no, i don't think it was damaging to miss o.  i think it was a very nerve wracking thing for my nine-month-pregnant sister.  but it worked for them - and i'm not criticizing her approach. 

on the other hand, it's totally not the right approach for us.  the stress?  yeah, i don't need anymore of that in my life.  and zade - well let's just say she's not one for being told what to do.  in fact, she usually does exactly the opposite of whatever i'm trying in earnest to get her to do.  she's better off figuring out things on her own.  that's just the kind of kid she is.  and i was that way, too.  i know exactly how annyoing it is to have someone push things on me.  i'm stubborn - anyone in my family will tell you that.  and diapers are easy - they're what we know.  and we're loving the cloth.  so it's not killing us or anything. 

but what i have been doing this week is some intensive potty education with the z monster.  it was pretty unintentional.  one day i was procrastinating on my laundry-doing.  so z ran out of dipes.  instead of putting her in one of our leftover disposables, instead i just zipped up her footie pajamas and let her go commando.  i reminded her to let me know if she needed to pee or poop in the big girl potty and sent her off to play.  i kept reminding her every half hour or so to tell me if she needed to use the potty and we went about our business.  i was pretty sure she'd have an accident, but wasn't concerned.  but what she usually does when she has an accident is just come whining up to me and it's my responsibility to figure out the problem.  that day, she came running into the bathroom with an urgency in her voice telling me she wants to poop in the potty!  poop in the potty!  sure enough, she'd pooped down the leg of her footie pajamas.  i cleaned her up, sat her on the potty and praised her for telling me like a big girl. 

the rest of the week, we kept the diaper on, but repeatedly asked if she needed to use the toilet.  she seemed completely uninterested in the subject most of the week.  i figured she was blocking me out.  but this morning, after changing her night diaper, she immediately wet her new dipe.  and as i was wrapping up her old diaper, she ran like the wind to the bathroom saying that she'd peed and needed to sit on the potty.  she had gone in her diaper, but she sat on the toilet, clearly proud of herself, smiling, swinging her arms and talking about pooping in the potty.  she didn't actually go in the toilet, but i was so impressed by the connection her brain had made, i praised her and brought the container of strawberry ice cream for her to eat for breakfast on the potty. 

so we're going to continue with the intensive potty education.  it's going to be like the everything-potty-all-the-time show a la casa de afrindiefamilia this weekend.  today we're going to go buy a special, new, fun, big-girl potty for z.  tomorrow we're going to go buy some pretty panties for treats when she does something amazing related to the porcelain goddess, and we may try some intensive naked-but time, too. 

we're beginning this without any prior research on what we should be doing regarding potty training.  i hate parenting books with a passion.  so if we're making any horrible mistakes, you'll all tell me, right?

***UPDATED TO ADD***

and then she peed on the office floor at 10 a.m.

and then she pooped on the living room floor at 10:30

and peed right next to the toilet (way to go!) in her attempt to get on and sit down. 

and pooped (in the diaper i had installed after the previous accident) while i was cleaning up the pee, took off her diaper and ran and sat on the toilet - excrement smeared up her back and all over the toilet. 

there is excrement covering every surface of my house right now.  my god - how do you people survive potty training?

Comments

[dawn]

That's how we did it with both kids. Noah trained at 3+ and Madison trained at 2+ which leads me to believe that it must work for them if they're ready, right?

[MamaChristy]

As long as you both aren't in tears and she's not about to start kindergarten and you're thinking "what the heck am I gonna do?" then I whatever works for you is fine. Good luck and I'm jealous!

[Jenna]

Wake me up after Nick is potty-trained.

[supersugarstar]

come visit me! we have some cuuuuute undies!

[orrielynn]

at 2yo, or a little less, dd wd always use the potty if she had not bottoms on. (none at all.) of course this cdnt work outside, so she always had diapers on then and she always went inthe diapers.
she did start having accidents at home when i started moving the potty from the living room to the bathroom. this set up back 6-8 weeks.

dd was totally potty trained a month or two before she was 3yo.

[cloudcome]

HA HA HA HA My question is, why do we do it again and again?

[Moxie]

I think this thing you call "Potty education" is what a lot of us call "potty training." At least this is what I did with my older one, and am about to start doing with my younger one. Slow and steady wins the race, and it's all about communication and mastery.

[Martina]

Repeat after me while the Z has naked time (easier to clean up!) SHE IS A CUTE LAB PUPPY -- SHE IS A CUTE LAB PUPPY

[steven davies]

You sound a lot like me when it comes to potty training. My philosophy has always been to wait until they are 3 and then potty training in about 3 days. It's worked 2 times...we'll see about 3:)

[michael jones]

I believe that this post will help me very much with the potty training! I like it!

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[Cat Care Information]

A cat is a curious animal and you probably all know the phrase: "curiosity killed the cat". Well, a cat can climb every where, and he will probably want to explore every spot in your home.

[autoglass]

That's the way to do it. Congrats!

[Auto Glass]

Nice Article, Thanks