First a Big Girl Bed and now potty training! Reaghan is getting the hang of all of the big girl milestones before she becomes a big sister and its so bittersweet to watch.

Potty training has been just a tad bit more challenging than the transition to a big girl bed. Before we started she hadn't actually gone to the bathroom on a potty before but was showing all the other signs of being ready. She was super interested whenever I used the bathroom and always wanted to flush the toilet for me. She wanted her diaper changed right away after she would poop and was even telling me several times throughout the day when she peed in her diaper.

I was nervous to start because I once we started I didn't want to go back to diapers but I wasn't totally sure she was ready. I mean, theres no way to know unless you try right? I really wanted to make sure when we started that it was for good and I knew if we didn't do it now then it wouldn't happen until the spring, well after the baby was here, and the thought of that spurred me on to just get it done! I'd always heard that doing it in a weekend was possible and thats the way we wanted to go.

Prep Work:

We talked it up with Reaghan for a few days before we planned to start to get her really excited about what was about to happen. We bought a little potty chair for her for the bathroom and had her practice sitting on it at night before bath for a few days before we started. I took her to the store and we picked out some pretty underwear and Mark picked out a few potty training books that we started reading with her a couple days before as well.

Reward:

Potty chart with stickers and a bowl of M&M's - 2 for pee, 5 for poop!

Day 1:

When we got up that Thursday morning I excitedly got her out of her bed and reminded her that today was the day that we were starting to go potty on the potty like a big girl! I texted Mark to pray for us and I put her in panties right away and we went out for breakfast. She had lots of accidents that morning but we just cleaned them up together and I said things like "uh oh. pee goes in the potty. lets try harder next time!" and "remember if you feel pee coming to tell mommy!" We spent the morning sitting on towels in the living room reading books, coloring and drinking lots of juice and lemonade. Her favorite activities! And setting a timer on my phone for trying to go potty every 15 minutes. We would sit and read on the potty and if she didn't have to go then we just tried again later. She successfully peed in the potty for the first time around 11:45! I realized I didn't have any stickers to put on the potty chart I made her so I texted Mark to stop and get stickers on his way home for lunch. She LOVED putting stickers on the chart and I realized that was motivating her way more than the promised M&M after a successful pee pee. By nap time at 2:30 I was exhausted! She had peed on the potty 7 times but had also had twice as many accidents! I put her in a diaper for nap time and was happy to take a break from being on a constant potty vigil!

Day 2:

Friday the girl didn't actually pee at all from the time she woke up in the morning until lunch time! It was totally opposite of Thursday morning when she was peeing a little bit at a time every 15 minutes! She finally drank a whole sippy cup of lemonade around 12:30 and peed a few minutes later. After that it was basically a repeat of Thursday with some accidents and some successful potty trip. When she heard the timer on my phone go off her eyes would light up and I would ask her what it meant and she would say "time to go potty!". We would rush off to the potty but she didn't always go. She was really excited when she woke up from her nap to go potty and put her panties back on but her diaper was already soaked. She didn't have any accidents after her nap but did sort of tell me for the first time when she felt pee coming. She was putting her panties from the washer into the dryer for me and came running into the kitchen going "Ahh ahh ahh" so we ran to the potty and she went! Yay!  I'll be honest, by the end of Friday I was a little discouraged. Looking back I can see that she was making progress but at the time I was hoping that she would've caught on to the whole feeling her pee-pee coming thing a little better by the end of the second day. Mark was starting to question whether she was really ready and I we decided we would give her 2 more days and if she wasn't making any progress by Sunday night we would scrap it and try again in a few weeks.


Day 3:

You guys. If your first 2 days of potty training aren't going so well, just hang on for the 3rd day! It was so much better!!! She didn't have any accidents at all that morning and did actually tell me once that she had to go. I was still using a timer for her every 20 minutes or so and she was successfully going! Since she had done so well all day long we decided to take her out for a test trip. (Mommy actually just wanted to get out of the house for a bit after 3 full days at home!) We went to Chic-fil-a, ate and came home without any accidents! I did try to get her to go pee at chic-fil-a and found out that she has a real aversion to going potty on a regular toilet. She threw a big fit in the bathroom and did not go pee. haha thankfully she made it home without any incidents. She had one accident that night right before bed that was really my fault because I gave her a little bit more freedom than she was ready for - a little too much time before asking her if she had to go.



Day 4:

Last day of our Potty Training Boot Camp weekend! We decided to stay home from church to give her one more good day of getting the hang of it before resuming normal activities and having potty training just as a party of our daily routine. We read and played all day long and still used a timer. She was starting to get frustrated at the timer interrupting her play time so I started giving her more and more time in between. She wasn't perfect, but she was getting better at telling me when she felt pee coming so I tried to let her tell me more and more instead of relying solely on the timer. **Side note - she finally pooped on Sunday after 3 days of not going and cleaning up poop from a little potty is a totally gag-worthy mommy duty. Yuck! I decided then that we needed to start working on the whole big potty aversion issue!**

Our First "REAL" Outing:

So that next day I had my 28 week check up and had to take Reaghan with me. I was super nervous about how it would go but went prepared. A towel in my car for the carseat if needed. 2 extra outfits. Plastic diaper bags for wet clothes if needed. And wipes. She went potty before we left and I didn't give her anything to drink while we were out to make it a little easier. She told me in the waiting room that she had to go potty so I took her. She cried when she realized she had to go on a big potty but after a little fit and a little mommy perseverance she went on the big potty! And no accidents! I had to go to work that afternoon and unfortunately she didn't do well with Mark at all. Threw fits about having to use her little potty and had 2 accidents. We're not really sure what happened but have since come to realize that she hates having anyone but mommy take her potty! I don't know how that happened since Mark was home all weekend with us and very involved in everything.


Okay so that was probably WAY more than you wanted to know about how Reaghan learned to use the potty, but I love being able to look back and remember the details! We are now 2 1/2 weeks in and I'm happy to announce that she definitely has the pee part down! We are able to go about our normal business... some things like grocery shopping just take a little longer because of the potty breaks. She will go pee on a big potty now when we are out without any qualms but at home still prefers the little potty and thats okay with me - mostly because she's learning to be more independent with it. She can go in and pull her pants down and sit without my help which wouldn't be possible using just a big potty. She no longer throws fits for Mark about going to the potty while I'm at work. BUT she still has issues with the whole going #2 on the potty! She had an accident today for the first time in a week while my mom was watching her because she still prefers mommy to take her potty and if she has to poop, she will hold her pee forever because she's afraid if she sits to pee her poop might also come. *sigh* Its okay, I know she'll have accidents every once in a while. She's a toddler. She won't be perfect and I'm super proud of her for potty training!

We are working on going #2 without throwing a fit. She literally hates going poop in the potty and will go 2-3 days in between bowel movements which just makes it worse because when she goes its more uncomfortable for her. I've been really upping her fiber and throwing baby food pureed prunes into her smoothies to help her go. We've even used Miralax with her because she will hold it until she literally can't any more and when she can't she'll dance around and cry and throw herself on the ground because heaven forbid the poop is actually coming!!! At that point I rush her to the potty and she cries until it happens. It's not fun. And she's had 2 poop accidents in her panties which also isn't fun. I am trying to find the balance in disciplining for the excessive and unnecessary fit throwing but not increasing her anxiety about pooping. It's definitely a challenging aspect of this whole potty training journey. I have to remind myself not to get frustrated and that this is just a season. She'll eventually get the hang of it. Let's just hope its sooner rather than later!