Potty Training: Day One

Well here I am. Back at it. I really don't know why I haven't written a blog in so long, all I know is that a lot has happened and I realized I want to be able to look back and remember things! Which is the point of a blog. So what better subject to start back with than potty training? :)

We have been talking about potty training Bella for a couple of months now. We knew that summer time would be a good time to do it since Joe is home (although less now, since he works two jobs) and that way we can work on getting her out of diapers before we have another one in diapers (which I also haven't blogged about). 

So we thought about it and thought about it and talked about it and talked about it and today I just decided we were going to do it! These are the signs she has been showing lately that led me - and others - to believe that she may be ready:
- She tells us when she poops.
- She gets diapers out of her diaper bag and tries to change herself. (hilarious)
- She shows an interest in her potty, which has been sitting in the bathroom for months, and shows interest when we go to the potty with her. (It happens, she follows me around.)
- She takes naps without peeing.

Now, she doesn't sleep through the night without peeing, but we thought we would tackle daytime potty training first and leave her in diapers/pull ups over night and during naps. I asked the advice of some friends, including Devan, who has a daughter about six weeks older than Bella and has already started successfully potty training her. After all that, this is what I came up with.

I bought the Gerber training pants, some colorful some plain. I prefer and recommend the colorful ones, although they are more expensive, because they came with plastic sewed into them, which kept them from leaking, but still allowed Bella to feel when she was wet.  The cotton ones did that as well, but I like the plastic being in the pants. For the plain ones, we bought princess undies to go over them, so Bella could get excited about how pretty they were. Which she did!

I chose to do pull ups during the night and quit diapers cold turkey, like some other moms I know have done. I explained to Bella before I put her to bed just now that those are her night time panties. And when she wears the Gerber ones, we call them her "big girl" panties. She has really caught on to the fact that they are a big deal because every five minutes she wants me to see her "pretty panties."

At first we had the potty in the bathroom, but then we moved it out to the living room. I thought it might help because then she wouldn't have to go in a completely different room to potty, she could just go immediately wherever she is. 

First thing this morning she seemed excited about the potty, but then she started crying and freaking out every time we put her on it! I started to doubt myself and think we were traumatizing her by making her sit on it, but once again, from the help of other moms I learned that she isn't the only one to do that, so we kept going. This evening she was fine with it so hopefully she won't have that reaction anymore.

All in all we had four accidents for the day and no pees or poops on the potty. Four doesn't sound that bad to me though. She isn't a big pee-er, she goes hours during the day without going, so hopefully that will make the process easier. At the very least it made today full of less messes! Patience is absolutely not my strong suit so I'm happy with how I handled today. Ask me how I'm handling it in two weeks and we shall see. :)