potty in the potty... potty on the floor...

Well, today was the day. Day one of potty training. I have always wanted to just get this potty thing done... I wasn't excited about buying a bunch of pull ups and 'working on it' for months. So... when I heard about 3-day potty training, I thought it would be worth a try. I bought the online book and Matt and I started today.

The whole idea is to let Madison lead the way. We never ask her if she has to go potty or take her into the bathroom to sit for hours... instead we continually say (and said probably 200 times today), "Tell Mommy or Daddy if you have to go potty". About an hour after she got up, and we celebrated the start to potty day with new Hello Kitty and Dora underwear as well as cinnamon rolls, she stood in the dining room, behind the curtain, and peed on the floor. I rushed her into the bathroom as I told her to tell me she had to go. She sat on the potty and we talked about how yucky that felt. We cleaned her up, got her some new underwear, and I cleaned up the mess in the dining room. The book tells you to have the kid clean up the mess, but Madison takes great joy in cleaning things with a wash cloth all around the house. Both Matt and I feared that if we let her clean up her mess, she would possibly pee on the floor just so she could clean.

Anyway, a couple of hours later, I heard behind me, "Uh oh Mommy, I have to go potty"... as the pee streamed down her leg. We then went into the potty and she sat on the potty. I think a drop fell from her crotch that was left over from before... but none-the-less, there was potty in the potty. She was excited... so I was too. We cheered, we used our new cool wipes, we flushed it down the big potty, and got our first orange M&M.

Then things began to turn the other way. Madison then told us MANY times, "Mommy, I have to go potty". Ecstatic at first, we went to the potty with no success. We did this MANY MANY times. We quit trying and took a nap (with a diaper). After nap, it was the same story... many false alarms. I began to get frustrated because I thought Madison had learned to play a great game with Mommy. I tell her I have to go potty, she drops everything to run in and hang out with me. I had to put a limit on this. I always took her when she asked but when we were in the bathroom, it was business. There was no playing with the cabinet... or the bath toys. No sticking your hands in the potty, not spitting on the floor (which is a new fun thing Madison has decided is neat)...

Then... at about 5:00 at night, she told me she had to go potty, we went in there (for the 100th time) and she sat down and squeezed out her pee. She actually squeezed so hard it shot right out the front of the potty. We all jumped and celebrated and Madison enjoyed her one red M&M. After that we went to the potty for many more false alarms as well as many niners ('stinkers'), but she actually ended up going a few more times with only one other accident on the floor.

According to the book, you are supposed to keep them in their underwear even when they sleep. I am not this brave (I just got my 7 month old sleeping through the night... I didn't want to now be getting up to change sheets). As I put a diaper on her and laid in bed with her, she told me she had to go potty. Frustrated, I figured she just wanted to get out of bed. We headed into the bathroom (after a long explanation that we will be going right to the potty and right back to bed) and Madi sat down and peed a big stream of pee. A good ending to a long day of day one potty training. I'll try and update tomorrow... day two....