Smith Family Tree: Potty Princess

Exciting news around the Smith house...we may be saying farewell to diapers. (I hesitate to even type this for fear of regression.) I had several days in a row off work due to TWDs that I was not scheduled to work. Juel had been asking to sit on the potty and waking up with dry diapers most mornings. Several times she had used the potty. When Tyson potty trained at the ripe old age of 3 1/4 years old, we used this book called "Potty Train in 3 Days." I was not sure I believed it, but it really worked for him. It is INTENSE during those three days. The basic premise it to focus on the child at all times, constantly saying "Let Mommy know if you need to use the potty" (gives kid control) and also saying "are your pants dry?" It also uses a small reward, but in a non-coersive way, along with lots of praise. I decided to give it a try since I would be home with nothing planned. We started Friday morning. I pulled out the "frog potty," created a treat jar and sticker chart, threw out diapers (well pretended to) and we 'put on our big girl panties'...ready! Whew, it was a long day. It is pretty tough to stay glued to the side of a toddler---with a larger and significantly jealous older brother hanging around as well. She had several accidents that day. This is also part of the "training" process to catch the child in the act and take them to the potty. The next day mom was able to help out by taking Tyson with her so that I could focus totally on Juel. She only had a few accidents and began to take my hand to pull me to the potty. Sunday morning we decided to try going to church and thought one of us would just stay with her in the nursery. She started begging for her frog potty, which was a good sign, so mom took her home. She only had one accident all day. I told her she was a "potty princess," which she LOVED! And this morning she woke up calling "mommy, potty"! Whoo Hoo! She asked to go all day tons of times. We even went to take Tyson to school and played outside with no accidents. Later this afternoon she did go in her pants, but it was mostly my fault. Tyson was riding the tractor with the farmer who plants beans/wheat beside our house. I walked over to get him out of the cab and as I did she ran to me. By the time we made it inside she had an accident, oh well. I still consider it a great success so far!(Wow this is a long post about pottying!)