I was actually not sure whether to start potty training or not. I thought of starting once she turned 2 (for no other reason than procrastinating) but by March the weather would start getting cold and this would not be really practical. Since my plan was to let her just run around naked till she got the potty thing down, it would be better to start now (since it's summer). Needless to say I was using the weather as my deciding factor and not so much whether Meera was ready or not. I read a lot of articles along the lines of 'is your child ready to potty train' but I figure before disposable diapers were available everyone got potty trained a lot earlier so no time like the present. Accordingly I set out to start on Monday.
I had no idea what to expect. Since we recently let her sleep in the toddler bed I would normally wait a while to go get her in the morning. So on Monday I waited a bit and when I went to get her, her diaper was full (as it normally is). I took off her diaper and told her that we were going to start using the potty to pee in for the day. Not sure if she really got what I was trying to tell her. I had already been preparing her for this the week before by letting her see me pee in the toilet and telling her on numerous occasions that she was also suppose to pee in the toilet. She seemed quite ok with it, not really insisting on a diaper(or maybe cos she didn't really get what was going on). So we started the day fine; I would keep asking her if she needed to use the potty to pee and she kept saying no. OK. I figured since her diaper was full it may be a while before she had to pee again so no big deal. I kept plying her with water and diluted juice whole morning and at one point after breakfast she wandered off. Next thing I know she had pooped on the floor! (guess I wasn't asking the right question!) She was quite upset about it (and so was I!) but I tried to act like it was no big deal and cleaned it up. After a while she wanted to pee and she did...right on the floor. Before that though she was quite agitated and cranky but at that point I didn't realise what it meant. So after telling her that she was suppose to pee in the potty I wiped up the mess. There were a few more incidents of her wetting the floor and I was starting to get discouraged. I had no idea how to get her to sit on the potty to pee. A couple of times she sat down and the minute a bit of pee came out she would quickly stand up and stop. I could tell she was trying to hold it in. I could also tell that she knew what was suppose to happen but for some reason was terrified of letting her pee go into the potty. By the end of the day I had used up so many towels to wipe up the spills and not once did she go in the potty. A few dribbles (which I made a big deal of) but she still didn't get it. I even tried to show her it was ok by peeing in the potty myself! Talk about desperate measures. When Jing came home we spent like 30 minutes sitting with her on the potty and finally she peed. So after day 1 I was exhausted...but determined to keep trying.
Day 2 was a bit better. She peed a couple of times. She was still trying to stand up but I kept telling her to sit down and I guess her bladder was so full that she couldn't manage to hold it in. I could tell she was holding in her pee cos I put her in diapers for her nap and it was really full. Even when I got her up in the morning it was so full it leaked. I even tried to take pictures of her pee in the potty to convince her it was a good thing, looking at her face though she doesn't look convinced.
Day 3- she's much more willing to pee in the potty but no poop. She pooped in the early morning and it leaked. So another laundry load. She's starting to get it but not too thrilled about it though. She gets a bit frazzled when she gets the urge to pee so I have to bring her to the potty and keep telling her that it's okay to pee. After a while she will pee but we did have a few accidents (my fault for not really keeping an eye on her).
Day4- I had to go out for groceries today. I also decided I would buy chocolates as a reward. Initially I didn't want to use any reward but she seems so traumatised about peeing on the potty that I wanted to show her it was a good thing. And nothing works like chocolate. :) So I waited till she peed and then we went out to get the stuff. Initially she was so worked up about the chocolate (I got her Smarties) that she just kept crying. I was starting to regret the chocolate idea. But I persevered. That day she peed twice in the potty and both times she got a Smarty. but I don't think she quite gets the connection. No accidents today but I wonder if she's holding in her pee cos her diapers seem unusually full. Still pooping in her diaper though. Guess I'll have to work on that later.
Day 5 - going much better today. She's starting to embrace the reward system. She peed and after that said 'chocolate!'.. no accidents so far.
I think she's getting the whole concept. I'm going to get a toilet seat for the toilet and slowly get her to sit on that. I'm quite amazed that she's getting it so quickly. When I first started on Monday I thought it was going to be impossible and now....she's actually peeing in the potty! (amazing!)
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