Potty Training–the second child :)

After the truly exhausting experience of potty training our first child, and adding a current small infant on top of that, I was really not even planning to potty train Meredith soon. But then she started requesting to go. And then, a couple times, I caught her undressing and taking off her own diaper to sit on the potty.

Okay, fine – I get it. I can take a hint.

This past weekend, I decided to start putting her in underwear as we sit around the house. I just really didn’t have 3 full days to devote to it like I did with Russell, but I liked the 3-day method, so I just thought I’d abbreviate it a little. Underwear in the house, diapers out and about. That way, there wouldn’t be so much stress and pressure. The premise of the method is to put the child in underwear, and when they start to have an accident, rush them to the potty. That way, they associate the “feeling” with getting to the potty fast. Rewards and cheering are for any successful potty attempt.

The first day we put her in underwear was Saturday. We watched her like a hawk. She didn’t do anything for about a half an hour, and then I saw her go in her her room and try to close the door. By the time I got to her, she had had her accident. She had a guilty look on her face. I knew she knew, even when she closed the door, what was happening. That made me think 2 opposite possibilities; either 1) this would be easy since she knows what she’s doing or 2) this will be hard if she knows what she’s doing but refuses to use the potty.

Well, long story made a little shorter, thankfully, it has been really easy! Meredith has only had 3 accidents since Saturday – the first one, one for no apparent reason, and one because I was nursing the baby and Mer was strapped into her booster seat at the kitchen table (oops).

She tells us when she has to go and gets excited when she has gone!

Here she is with her potty chart full of stickers:

And because her chart was full, she got to pick out a toy! She chose this meowing, purring kitty which she has named “Izze the Cat” after Eliza’s cat Izze.

She was doing so well that I left her in underwear today even when we went to the gym (where she was in child care for an hour) and to the Halloween party. No accidents! We are so proud of our big girl, and so ready to only have 1 child in diapers!