So we're potty training. After many sources of advise we have created our own laid back form of potty training. It began with hours and hours of "Elmo goes Potty"
Our favorite clip was when they discuss the different names people use to refer to their own personal elimination.
We learn that Baby Bear and Curly bear say "wee wee" and "woo woo." Its riveting. Prairie Dawn's chat about underpants is especially disturbing. But effective. It certainly got Lea excited and we know the 3 things after we go potty are to wipe, flush (woosha-wooosha), and wash our hands. Thanks again to Prairie Dawn.
Grandma JoAnn and Grandma Lynn were a help in getting Lea excited about wearing panties, so we went out and got our first set of panties (as shown above) from Old Navy. They had cute ones with flamingos and flip flops. A week later we got Tinkerbell panties also.
While many formulas for potty training were given to us from family, even a DVD sent to us by the maker of pull ups. We discovered we weren't quite the kind of people who make a doll pee in the potty. I'm sure it works wonders as expounded by the likes of Dr. Phil (as well as more reliable sources like Grandma JoAnn), but truly by the time we'd talked about it so long and found a good weekend to do it, Dan and I discovered that Lea could go pee in the potty on her own. She's great at going pee in the potty so long as a) we're home and b) its only pee.
Poop is a whole other matter.
Dr. Phil does not offer a doll that poops! So we're still working on it. But as I was advised by a woman in the office with a girl about to turn 16, "Don't fret potty training, perhaps it will cut down on her dating." She was kidding, of course, but her meaning was clear. Everyone manages to learn to use the potty and we're doing well with our bright girl. I shall stop feeling guilty after reading blog entry after baby post about their anonymous 16 month old who is fully potty trained... even some who have taken the way of the Chinese and potty train from birth. Not for me!
It is said you can get used to anything and we are used to diapers. It seems such a hassle now to find Lea a potty while we're out, but we've managed. We even found a tot size pot in our new Walmart and there is a kiddo size family bathroom at the playground at the mall. Now we just have to have Lea cooperate and have some interest in it when we're out. She wet her jeans while we were at the library, a short outing and a test of sorts. So with catchy jingle fully in my head from the marketing genius who sent me a DVD, my big kid, look what she can do, wow! She wears pull-ups when we're out and about. We visit the potty everywhere we go, but when we're not at home it doesn't seem to phase her. She's almost as proud of her pull-ups as her panties, so it doesn't seem to be the backward step SuperNanny professed it to be. And I don't feel its a good idea to make a big deal out of it, so we don't. It will come in time.
While at home, she roams the house in her fab new panties (that she is very, very proud of) and can go pee without even telling us. She just disappears and comes back and says "I went potty! I get a sticker!" Yes, small stickers for pee and big stickers for poop is our reward system. We've had some close calls that in Dan and my parenting expertise merited a big sticker, but they are few and far between on our giant calendar of potty success.
We expect her to be toilet trained by the time she starts dating, and if not... oh well.
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