A few months ago, I began the potty training process with Kailynn. I wish I could ramble on about how easy it has been, but unfortunately, she is still in diapers when we are not home. I must say that when we are home she does a pretty good job using the potty, but only if I remind her to do so.
Kailynn's 1st training day was the toughest only because I had to ignore everything and everyone and have my attention 110% focused on her if I didn't want to clean up an accident. With that being said, I would recommend a day without distractions. That includes cell phones, laptops, tv, cleaning (which I did not mind at all), and cooking. We ordered pizza.
We began our day with the usual morning routine. After breakfast, I let Kailynn pick out which big girl panty she wanted to wear. The expression on her face was priceless when she put on her Minnie Mouse panties. I did not put pants on her just incase she did have an accident. It makes for a much easier clean up. Afterwards, I helped Kailynn put on the Potty Watch that grandma bought for her. The day before, I let her play with it and told her how it worked. I reminded her again that when the time ran out and she heard the potty song, it was time to use the potty. I set the timer on her watch for 30 minutes and we played with her toys while we waited for the timer to go off. With 15 minutes left on the timer, she had an accident. I reminded her that pee-pee belongs in the potty and not on her clothes. I cleaned up the mess, reset the timer and we tried again.
When the timer was up and she heard that potty tune, she rushed to me to help her get to the potty on time. She sat on her potty and we waited... and waited... and waited... but no pee-pee. She got up from the potty to see if there was anything in there but saw nothing. I did not get mad at her for not going pee-pee. Instead, I applauded her for trying. I was surprised when she reminded me that she needed to try to use the potty.
I offered Kailynn more water to drink to try to get her to use the potty but she would only take a few sips and walk away. That's when I did something I never do. I opened a bag of chips and let her snack away. The purpose of giving her this salty snack was make her thirsty. It worked! She gulped down a cup of water in the blink of an eye. Kailynn ran to the bathroom and sat on the potty when finally, she did it! She finally went "pee-pee" in the potty! We did a potty dance and put a sticker on her Sesame Street potty chart that I found in an activity book at Target.
For the rest of the day, I let Kailynn snack on salty and sweet snacks to make her thirsty which in turn made her drink more water and use the potty more often. There were minimal accidents for the remainder of the day. Day one of potty training was a success!
