I know, it sounds scary, and it is!!! We started potty training Lily on Saturday and it has been quite a challenge. We decided to adopt Dr. Phil's method of training, considering he claims he could train any child in a day. Well, I'm here to tell you that it takes more than a day. His basic technique is: 1) Have them teach a baby doll how to go potty in the potty chair 2) Throw the baby doll a party for going potty 3) Tell Lily that if she goes potty she gets a party and can talk to someone famous (i.e. Joe as Bear in the Big Blue House)4) When she goes throw her a Potty Party (i.e. give her ice cream, sing Happy Potty Party To You, and blow out a candle) 5) When she has an accident, bring her back to the potty chair 10 times (although we only did it once because we thought that this was harsh). 6) Give them lots of fluids to speed up the process. Anyhow, the method is suppose to brand the idea in her head, offer positive reinforcement, and create muscle memory.
Well, we did all this and she went potty 3 times on Saturday and even woke up from her nap to go #2. But all the successes were from us putting her on the potty. At the time we had her in absorbent underpants, which I thought were smart, because they weren't diapers and they would absorb enough that we wouldn't have to call a carpet cleaner. Anyhow, as Saturday turned into Sunday I knew that we would have to make some adjustments. Everytime we would ask her about going to the potty it was followed by a, "No, no, no," even with bribing!!! And we were still having lots of accidents.
So, this morning I figured we were going to go for the gusto. I put her in her Nemo and Carebear underwear and decided to take the risk. Then something in her head just clicked. I think it was a combination of Busia & Grandpa's influence, letting her feel the vulnerable feeling of thin underpants, telling her that Nemo and Carebears didn't like to get wet, telling her honestly what was right vs. wrong, having a friend over, calling her pretend potty friends Hannah & Prudence, bribing with ice cream and modeling proper behavior that did the trick. She went potty 7 times today including one #2 and most of them were initiated by her! She even stayed dry during her nap and woke up twice to go to the potty chair before going off to bed. We are still doing a bit of bribing with bubbles, books, juice boxes and frozen yogurt, but she doesn't want Happy Potty Parties, tattoos, or much ice cream anymore. She just mostly wants me to call her pretend potty friends.
I think I just need to stay the course and she should be potty trained soon. I know I have some bugs to work out...like getting her to do the actual undressing, going in public, having her "hold it," wiping, and getting up to go at night. But, hey, this is a start.
I'll keep you posted about potty progress. In the meantime, if you know any tips, post some! I would love feedback.
posted by Jenny at 5:22 PM |
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