I'm a big girl now!

...well almost. We have been working for a while now on potty training Morgan. Although she can not physically get herself to the potty she definitely knows when she needs to go. We actually started all of this way back in August. At the time she was only 27 months old (a bit young) so we didn't push it hard. The only reason we started then was because she was showing a lot of interest in the potty. She would constantly comment about Mommy or Daddy using the potty, so we went out (actually Dad and JoAnne did) and bought her a potty chair. It is Elmo of course. Back then she actually did go in the potty a few times; I think most of it was just fluke luck that we sat her on it at the right time. She was very proud of herself but like I said we didn't really push it.

Then of course October came along and so did the wonderful casts and then braces. All of that put potty training on hold as there was no way she could sit on the potty with the casts on. Once the casts came off we tried again but with the braces on almost 20 hours a day it was difficult. She would scream bloody murder about sitting on the potty with her braces on. So... we gave in and decided to wait a while longer. In January she got down to 18 hours a day, so we tried again without much luck. Having only 6 hours free of braces made it difficult. We tried to have her sit on it when she was brace free but she only potties every four hours or so during the day so it was hit or miss.

Now that she is finally brace free all day and preschool is approaching we decided it was time to start really trying. A few weeks ago Morgan and I went to the store together to look at the different types of panties they had for little girls. This was my first step at trying to motivate her. She instantly noticed the Fancy Nancy panties. I told her that if she used the potty at home we would come back and get her some "big girl panties." A few days later she used the potty! We were so excited and she immediately told me she wanted her Fancy Nancy panties (I swear this child has the best memory; she must get that from her mom :) ). So we headed to Target and picked up some Fancy Nancy panties. I was so excited, I kept thinking this is it. She will wear her "big girl panties" and be so proud that she will want to use the potty all the time. Wrong! She wanted to wear her panties but still was not thrilled about sitting on the potty. We tried and tried but still no success.

After talking with a coworker who has a little girl a month older than Morgan I got the idea to start an incentive chart. He suggested that we find something she really wants and then tell her she needs to use the potty x number of times before she could get it. So once again I thought great, I will make a chart and we will have instant success. Wrong! She loved the chart and the idea of earning her reward; a Fancy Nancy dress-up costume, but still hated the idea of sitting on the potty. Weeks past with us trying. We would put in her the panties, give a piece of Reeses pieces everytime she sat on the potty, but still nothing. About half the time though I do admit it was our fault. She would say Mommy potty or Daddy potty and we would be distracted or have the potty chair all the way across the house. By the time we would realize what she was saying or get the potty it was too late.

So, we are getting better. We recorded the times of day she was usually going for a few days and then started having the potty close at hand. We also started just having her sit on it every hour or so when she was dry. On Saturday evening right before bath we had our first success in almost a month (sticker #1 for her chart). Then on Monday she went again (sticker #2). On Wednesday she actually went twice at her grandparents' (sticker # 3 and 4). Then today she actually went #2 in the potty to earn her final sticker. She would have earned it earlier this morning but I missed my cue. I was at the front of the house when I heard her yelling but couldn't make it out. By the time I got to the living room and heard that she was saying she needed to potty she was going. So, as I said to start this long blog she is a big girl now....almost. We are still getting it down but making huge progress. Hopefully she will learn soon to give her parents a bit more notice so we can get her to the potty in time. Her mobility is definitely the biggest challenge with perfecting the potty training.

In the meantime we had to hold true to our promise. She filled her potty chart and earned herself a Fancy Nancy dress-up costume. So we headed out to Target this evening when David got home from work.