The flood gates have been opened. Bailey decided that this weekend would be the weekend to embrace "girl potty". Jenny's hard work and patience over the last handful of months finally paid off and she wasn't even around to celebrate it. Jenny decided to crown me "husband of the year" but let's be honest, I'm just riding her coat tails. She's been so persistent and patient with Bailey, and we've been expecting a breakthrough any day. Thunder officially stolen.
With Jenny away at a MOPS retreat this weekend, it was just me and Bailey for a couple days. I had been away for a few days prior, so Jenny informed me that Bailey had moved from the practice potty to the "big girl potty", a smaller seat on top of the regular toilet. What I didn't know until today was that the first attempt at the new seat resulted in Bailey promptly falling off. Probably better that I didn't know that...
Before Jenny left for her retreat, she chaperoned Bailey on an unsuccessfully 30-minute potty-fest at Bailey's insistence. So, come Friday afternoon, Bailey and I were playing and she announced that she needed to go potty. I marched her into the bathroom and told her to grab a seat on the practice potty. After she so gently corrected me about her new "big girl potty", I plopped her down on the toilet, grabbed a seat on the little step stool, and settled in. It wasn't more than 3 minutes when Bailey hit pay dirt. At the sweet sounds of peepee spraying the sides of the toilet, I let out a little shout of joy while Bailey gave me one of the biggest smiles I've seen from her. After she finished, I help her off the toilet so she could view her accomplishment and then flush it away. After a little celebration we added a sticker to her potty card and went about our business.
The potty card - a genius idea Jenny's been using - is a card that has 3 spots for stickers. Bailey gets a sticker each time she goes in the potty, and for every 3 stickers, she gets to pick something from the "special toy" box - a collection of garage sale finds and consignment sale bargains. A little incentive/positive reinforcement never hurt anybody.
After round one, I was pleasantly surprised and even more so that I didn't have to invest 30 minutes sitting there, watching and waiting.
I'll spare you the details but between Friday afternoon and Sunday afternoon, Bailey dropped it like it's hot (peepee and poopoo) NINE TIMES!!! She only cried wolf once and every other time, she told me she needed to go and took care of business within a few minutes of sitting down, usually just a few seconds. I'm so proud of her.
Jenny captured #10 for me this evening to give you a glimpse of where I spent most of my weekend.
So I won't take any credit for the potty training, but after this weekend I can take credit for:
- Bailey learning how to stand on my back.
- Bailey sitting on my head.
- Bailey somersaulting over my knees.
- Bailey enjoying watching golf, and sort of knowing that when the ball disappears into the hole, it's a good thing.
- Bailey climbing up a metal ladder at the park all by herself.
- Bailey melting down in the church foyer last night because there was no music on for her to dance to. I wasn't too concerned about all of the eyes on me until Bailey took the cry to the 2nd dimension. You know what I'm talking about - after the initial outburst, there's this calm before the storm as she sucks in all the air she can, only to let out a scream that seems to last for days.
As you'd expect, Jenny was more impressed with the potty training than when Bailey and I showcased her new talents (#1-3) this evening.
For those looking for tips - I have none...sorry to disappoint! She told me she had to go, I listened, and she did all the work. I guess I tried to encourage her and I made a ridiculously big deal about how exciting it was and how proud of her I was. After the first couple times I think maybe she's seeing it as more fun then walking around in a diaper full of excrement! There's so much fun associated with going in the potty - she gets to flush, she gets a sticker, we do the "peepee in the potty" dance (Abby even does it sometimes!), she gets toys. Not a bad gig. Oh, and I'm pretty sure she's using it as a way to get out of eating food she doesn't like and to delay going to sleep. Whatever the reason, it's progress. I'm ready for Abby to be the only one in diapers. :-)
