Potty Training Ave

I never did a blog post about potty training and decided that I want to be able to remember how it all went down in a few years when I'm potty training Chloe. Lately, I've been looking back at old posts about Avery's birth and details about the first few months and it's nice to remember all the details. It's amazing how much I've forgotten!

Last Fall, I checked out a book about potty training from the library and bought a small potty for Avery to get familiar with. In October, I decided to give it a shot. The book said to prepare to stay home for a few days straight. I had just had my D&C and figured that I would be staying around the house anyways and should give it a try.

Loading up with juices and activities

It took all of one afternoon for me to realize that #1 Ave was not ready and #2 Potty training (a frustrating task) was best not done right after an extremely emotional and trying time in life. So, we let it go for several more months. Every once in a while she would want to go on the potty but it was not often and I didn't push it.

Over Spring Break in March, I decided to give it a go again. I was definitely not looking forward to it but figured that a week at home would be good timing. Avery was much more into this time. We made sticker charts, took the potty around with us in the car when we went places, and gave it our best try.

Avery spent A LOT of time in shirts and panties over the course of the week.



Doing some "gymnastics"

I really tried to keep her in panties for the majority of the time but if we had to go somewhere like church or on a longer errand, she would wear pull ups. She would also wear pull ups for naps and nighttime diapers at night.

 

There were lots of accidents in the first few days. Honestly, I started to think that she didn't really care when she had an accident. She would always go to the bathroom if I made her go, but would not tell us that she needed to go until it was too late. One strange thing about her accidents was that she never had one in a public place. It was like she knew better than to do that but if we were at home, you just never knew what you were going to get! Since it's been a while since we did this, I don't remember all the specifics but I do remember that it was not an enjoyable experience!

 

The rule for potty training at school was that they had to wear pull ups until they could manage to stay dry. Over the next few weeks, the accidents decreased drastically and she got a lot better at it. Ave was wearing panties all day except for naps but would have to wear pull ups at school. This is where our problem was. I think she was scared of the bigger potty at school and going with someone other than me. Some days she would go at school and other days she wouldn't. She would do great all weekend long but after half a day at school in pull ups, she would frequently have an accident at home that afternoon. One of Ave's sweet teachers left for maternity leave in April and they had someone different pretty often in the classroom so this may have added to the difficulty of going at school.

 

Once summer started, she was fully potty trained and I could feel my sanity returning. We dropped the pull ups during naptime sometime around then (mid May?) and dropped the nighttime diapers a little before her 3rd birthday. Thankfully, she has never wet her bed at night. At least that was an easy transition!







I really dreaded potty training and am honestly so glad it's over. I think it was my least favorite milestone to conquer- everything else seemed pretty easy. It's strange how getting a child to go to the bathroom can make you feel like you have done some amazing task! Oh, how my life has changed over the years! Now my girl is a potty champ, and I love being diaper free...even if it is only for one more month :).