We didn't have the best experience potty-training Stasa, so we decided to take it easy with Lexi and let her decide when it was time. Lucky for us daycare convinced her it was time to kick the diaper habit. For weeks she has been going most of the day on the potty at daycare, but then refused to go once we were home. We didn't push it, just constantly asked her and encouraged her to go. Lexi knows she's got all of the power in this situation and there's no way we're winning this battle.
Then last week daycare suggested that she come in underwear on Monday. We went out to the store and she chose a package of Minnie Mouse undies and walked into school SO PROUD on Monday. She was so thrilled to tell her teachers (and anyone else who would listen) that she was wearing "UNDA-WEARS!"
Monday she made it through the day at school with no accidents and wore a Pull-Up for nap. We got home and encouraged her to go potty, saw her grabbing herself and then told her to go potty, put her on the potty and she freaked. So we just told her to keep her underwear dry. Fast forward. She was helping Tom clean up and gather the garbage around the house and BAM peed her pants. He put her in a new pair of undies and then changed her into a Pull-Up for bedtime.
Tuesday she woke up dry! And peed on the potty first thing! She ran back to her room and picked out her underwear for the day (this is quickly becoming her favorite thing to do in the morning). Went the whole day at school with no accidents and wore a Pull-Up for nap. Got home and she had another accident after begin reminded repeatedly to go to the potty. Another Pull-Up for bedtime.
Wednesday she woke up again completely dry, but freaked out when I told her to go potty. So I just let it go and ignored it since she was on the verge of a meltdown. Ten minutes later she was sitting on the potty and then grabbing a pair of underwear for the day. She went the entire day without accidents at school and wore a Pull-Up for nap. She came home and went potty a couple of times. No reminders from us. She would stand up, declare she needed to go, and run to the bathroom. No accidents all day. And a Pull-Up for bedtime.
Thursday she woke up dry and went potty then got dressed for the day. She had one accident at school and wore a Pull-Up for nap again. We asked her teacher about the accident and it happened while she was playing and they could tell she needed to go, she was holding herself, but she didn't want to leave her game and ended up peeing her pants. This is actually something we still see Stasa doing - dancing around while she plays because she doesn't want to stop playing for a potty break. She'll do that until she's literally about to burst and then sprints to the bathroom. After pickup from daycare we went to grab a bite to eat and then headed to Costco for a few things. We didn't plan ahead so we had no changes of clothes or extra undies with us. We told Lexi she would have to keep her underwear dry because we didn't have anything to change her into if she had an accident. After arriving at Costco we immediately went to the bathroom, but she freaked out at the noise of the hand dryer. There was a kid in the bathroom who kept playing with the dryer and between that and the toilet constantly flushing itself there was no way she was going to attempt to go. We left the bathroom and I told her she had to either hold it and keep her undies dry or she would have to sit in her wet clothes if she had an accident. She kept dancing around and holding herself throughout the store, so about halfway through Tom took her to the bathroom again and again she refused to go and melted down. We gave up and just let her be. We were worried that she would have an accident in the car, but figured if she did we would just clean it. No big deal. Well, she didn't. She held it the whole way home and as soon as we were in the driveway she insisted she had to go potty. I ran her inside and in a flash had her pants and underwear down and her butt on the potty. And thus began the biggest meltdown ever. I think she had held it so long that it was starting to hurt. She was literally holding herself and crying and refusing to pee. So I walked away and told her I wasn't going to make her sit there. I went to help Tom bring in the food and when I walked back in I heard her going potty. Big girl. I gave her a lollypop for going and staying dry at the store. Twenty minutes later Stasa told me that Lexi pooped in her pants. Sure enough she did and didn't say anything to us, just walked around like that. She was really upset when I changed her and realized she made a mistake. We told her that she should have gone on the potty, but that it was just an accident. Another Pull-Up for bedtime.
This morning she woke up dry again! What what! And without a word she got out of bed, walked into the bathroom and went potty. I came in and saw that her Pull-Up was still dry and praised her for going potty and then yelled down to Tom so he could give some love, too. She walked back to her room SO PROUD and picked her undies for the day. She promised to stay dry all day and went off to school.
After our potty-training experience with Stasa and the battle of wills we were never going to win, I have to admit I was hesitant to get started with Lexi, but it's been so easy (KNOCKONALLWOOD). I am a little worried about how it'll go this weekend when we're out and about, but I suppose we'll eventually have to rip off the band-aid. Now that she's been wearing underwear there's no way we're going back to diapers and Pull-Ups during the day. And I think if she goes all next week without having an accident over the night we'll stop the Pull-Ups at bedtime. All in all this has been a pretty easy potty-training and thanks to Lexi I now know about every kid in her class who wears underwear, diapers, and Pull-Ups. I suppose we'll need to get her more underwear now. I tried to get Stasa to go through her underwear bin and pull out the ones that are getting a little small, but she FREAKED OUT and refused to give up a single pair. I'm not prepared to fight that battle, because let's face it, I just don't care enough about making her give up some underwear. Not a battle I want to win so I'll just buy Lexi her own.
UPDATE:
She went the entire day on Saturday without an accident, which was slightly surprising since she spent the majority of the morning playing outside and then out at the town center in the evening. We didn't ask her to go while we were home and each time she either came to us and said she needed to or she just walked straight to the bathroom. When we were at the town center I was a little nervous and kept asking her and took her two or three times and each time she refused to go. Finally she asked to go and actually went on the potty. Told ya - power.
Sunday she went almost all day without an accident and even walked away from the play place at the mall to tell us she had to go. I'm so proud that she's recognizing the signs that she needs to go and is okay to walk away from what she's doing to go potty. Both days she woke up dry in the morning and after nap. If she's able to wake up dry every day this week we're going to take the plunge and put her in underwear for bedtime.
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