Potty Train your Toddler in 3 days: DAY 1

Yeah you read that correctly, 3 DAYS!!!!! Got an email from Babycenter.com (which I had signed up for long ago, and often don't agree with or don't read 1/2 the emails they send), but the title "Potty Train your Toddler in 3 Days" got my attention.  I for some reason hadn't really been rushing into potty training our daughter. Mostly for selfish reasons like I knew it would take a lot of time and attention throughout the day and was also content changing her diaper instead of cleaning up accidents.  She had also not always been thrilled about sitting on the potty and for awhile would get upset if we asked her to sit on it, so I felt that maybe she wasn't ready.    

When I saw this email, I thought, I guess it is time to really start this process.  We had been slowly introducing the potty and she had gone to the bathroom on it a few times before, but more just by chance than actually understanding the idea. I honestly only briefly read the article, skimming, for what seemed like the important details.  And in turn kind of came up with my own plan for potty training, using some of the ideas that were shared in the Baby Center article and some ideas I had heard from friends and family. I hope over the next few days to share our "3 Day" experience with you. 

Day 1 

I am not sure that I should really count Thursday as Day 1 because I really only started the process 1/2 way through the day, but we'll count it anyway.  We had a busy morning with My Gym class and a few errands to run in which she wore a diaper.  During her nap time I came across the article and decided that since we had a free weekend ahead of us it might be the perfect time to give it a try! (They suggest you have 3 days that you can pretty much stay at home to start the training).  So after nap, we took her diaper off and the adventure began.  

Using advice from Julie Fellom (babycenter article) I left Alissa run around with only a t-shirt on for the rest of the evening.  They also recommend you have a potty for all the rooms you are going to be in, we however, only have one so we took it with us wherever we went.  She thought this was funny of course.  But it really got her interested in the potty and she was excited to use her potty in her playroom instead of just the bathroom.  So while I made dinner (made the mistake of choosing a time consuming meal) she played in her playroom, pretty much naked.  Every 10 minutes or so I would go in and remind her about her potty and she would usually end up going over to sit on it for a few minutes.  I got some books out for her to read while she sat there, and she also ended up eating snacks while sitting on her potty (not sure if that was a good idea or not, but I guess we'll find out, live and learn right!).  After about 30 minutes of on the potty off the potty, I heard "Mommy, Mommy, Mommy!".  As I responded "Yes, baby?" and looked over, she was on her potty! I ran over and asked her what was in there thinking that she hadn't done anything and as she stood up she says "Ooo, What in there? Peepee!" And there was! I was so impressed because I was kind of tied up with dinner and wasn't paying as close attention to her as I would have liked.  

So after I got done praising her, giving high fives, and making a REALLY big deal about her pee pee in the potty, we went upstairs to put an Elmo sticker on her new potty chart. I had coincidentally bought her a Sesame Street Potty Coloring Book earlier that day that came with stickers and a chart. We are also planning an Elmo party, so Elmo is a pretty big deal in our house right now. I wasn't sure if stickers were going to work as a reward, but I tried to make a big deal about how cool they were, and let her put them on the chart herself.  We hung the chart on our bathroom door where she can reach it.  She put her sticker on and seemed to be pretty excited and proud of herself.  

We went back downstairs to continue playtime and dinnertime.  Since she had just gone pee pee I didn't go in to remind her about the potty as much.  Fellom says not to ask them if they have to go because they will almost always say "No".  So I would just remind her she didn't have a diaper on, and a few times had her take the toy she was playing with over to her potty and play while she sat there.  Pretty sure she put Mrs. Potato Head together a few times while sitting on her potty.  I also started bringing her favorite books over and she sat and "read" those for a little while.  But for the most part, I let her do her own thing as I did mine.  

After about 45 minutes since the first "peepee", I see her sitting on her potty again reading her book. But this time I could tell she had her "Poop face" on.  Although I was so excited that she was sitting there pooping on her potty and I hadn't even prompted any of it, I left her have some privacy.  I also wanted to see what she would do when she was done.  As she finished, she looked out at me and yelled "Mommy, Mommy, Ooo, What in there?" I walked over and asked her the same question, and she replied "Poooop!".  We did another 5 minutes of yelling (good yelling), praising, and high fives.  Went upstairs, added another sticker to our chart, did some more high fiving, and went back down to finish dinner. 

When my husband came home from work, I handed the potty training hat off to him because dinner was STILL baking and I wanted to make sure that we didn't just spend our whole day potty training and actually ate something too! Alissa showed him her stickers and we praised her some more.  As they played together, she decided she wanted to play games on our cell phones.  She began the game playing sitting on her potty, but it is often easier for her to set the phone down on a surface to play on it.  So she got up, stood at the bench next to the potty and played her games.  Next thing we know, in a kind of disappointed voice she says "uh oh, What I do?".  Thankfully we have hardwood floors! We used the advice given on the Baby Center website, and simply told her that peepee and poo poo go in the potty and that we would wipe the pee pee up.  She seemed a little discouraged, but wasn't upset about the accident, which I am hoping is a good thing! 

Despite the one accident, we followed the same routine for the rest of the evening.  She played in only a t-shirt the whole night. I did put "big girl undies" on her while she ate dinner just cause I felt it was a little more sanitary, and didn't really feel comfortable making my poor kid eat her dinner pretty much naked at the table, haha.  After dinner, she went upstairs for her bath, took her little potty with her, and went pee pee one more time on the potty before her bath! It did take a pretty long time for it to happen though, we do alot of reading together while she sits there! We then put a diaper on her to sleep, and tucked her into bed! 

I was so happy with how the first night went! Although it was only a few hours, I guess I had just expected pee pee or poo poo to be everywhere! I was thrilled to find that wasn't really the case and that she seemed to be pretty excited about it.  

Stickers from Day 1 

However, as I went to bed I realized that I had made plans to visit friends and family the following day, which was an hour drive, a lot of running around, and we would be out and about ALL day.  I decided to leave her in her diaper for the day, because of our crazy schedule.  We could resume our potty training on Saturday! Which we did....stay tuned for the Day 2 post! And if you have any questions about anything we tried let me know! Or any suggestions, we are always up for those, especially any suggestions on emptying/cleaning out the little potty??!!  That's always a good time! haha Or feel free to share your potty training stories in the comments or on Facebook!!!