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| Piper's first potty adventure! |
Yes, you read the title correctly, we are in full-blown potty training mode at our house. No, this was not a planned scenario, it just sort of happened...because Piper is a baby genius, of course, lol!
My mom potty trained me at 18 months over a weekend with the reward being ruffle panties. This story has always made me laugh, as I don't think I could handle ruffle on my bum anymore (how uncomfy!), but it did inspire me to want to potty train Piper at an early age. Additionally, I taught preschool throughout my undergrad career, mostly 3 and 4-year-olds, and nothing is worse than changing a poopy diaper of a kid who should be using the potty on a regular basis. To one-up my mom, I wanted to have Piper trained by 15 months, a very lofty goal, but one I was curious to try just to see if I could. My original idea was to buy her a potty for her first birthday and get her used to sitting on it, seeing it, but with no real expectations she would take to it right away. However, Piper has a mind of her own and this is the story of how things have gone down recently.
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| Everyone like to read on the potty! |
The weekend before last I had to run to Wally World to grab some groceries and baby supplies. While perusing up and down the baby aisles, we went down one that had a jumble of various boxed items, some of them being potty chairs of different makes and models. I was not planning on purchasing one that day, but Piper went ballistic for this one with a hippo face on it. It was nothing special, no fancy noises when the goods hit the bowl, but it did have a book holder and a couple of buttons, one for cheering and one for telling a potty story from the book included. I was a little shocked that Piper was so adamant about wanting it, so I figured I'd go ahead and buy the damn thing to satisfy her need of something else novel in her life.
That Sunday evening, I remembered it was in the car. I proceeded to retrieve it and get it all set up. Piper once again got spastic over it, you've seen her videos and know how she can get enthused, right? So right then and there I stripped her down and sat her on it. Within 10 minutes she was peeing! On the very first try! As a matter of fact, she pee'd in it three more times with no diaper wetting in between before bedtime that night.
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| Discussing the finer points of peeing with Piper! |
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| And singing potty songs, of course! |
I figured it was a fluke, but that decided to put her on the potty the moment she awoke the following morning. Low and behold, she pee'd instantly. Then she didn't want to get up, and sat there till she pee'd again a few minutes later. I guess she knew she hadn't yet emptied her bladder on the first go-round, as children her age don't typically understand the concept or know how to fully empty their bladders all at once like us adults do. Needless to say, I was ecstatic! That day I took the potty to work and she continued to use it throughout the day. I'm not saying she never wet her diaper or anything, but mostly she was using the potty and keeping her diaper relatively unsoiled.
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| Potty toys are also a great idea to keep her seated and interested! |
Since those first couple of days, she has continued with the potty training. At first she didn't poop for two days, which is totally unlike her, and I figured this was going to pose a problem. But by day three she figured it out and pooped in the potty, too! The following day she pooped in her diaper during nap time, and cried of embarrassment, I swear it. Guess what? She hasn't pooped in her diaper since!
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| TMI! But have to brag on the the first pee-pee! |
At this point, she is still wetting her diaper only at certain predictable times. Of course at night when she sleeps, although she had a totally dry diaper one morning and her diapers for the most part are a lot drier overall in the morning. She also tends to let a little wee go during mealtimes, nap times, and if she is overstimulated with a lot of commotion, such as when her cousins come over to play. And sometimes we just simply miss the potty window, as once again I'll reiterate that kids her age cannot yet fully empty their bladder all at once. For the most part, though, she is staying dry. She pee's every time we put her on the potty, which is about every 20 minutes right now. It's a lot of work, but totally worth it.
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| She really likes the story book the chair came with! |
She completely understands the concept of what she is doing. She applauds, I reward her with a mini marshmallow (I believe in a good reward system), and she oftentimes holds her her pee for long periods of time, such as during her nursing sessions, so she doesn't soil her diaper. It's weird being in potty training mode with a child who cannot yet tell you when they need to go. She sometimes will crawl over to the potty when she feels the urge, other times she indicates she needs to go when asked, but mostly we are winging it.
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| And the two buttons praise and read the story out loud, too! |
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| And she can read along with the story as it is the same in the book! |
I put her on the potty as soon as she wakes up in the morning, every 20 or so minutes throughout the day, immediately before and after meals, including nursing sessions, and before bedtime, of course. She loves to sit on the potty, and knows when she still has some urge in her bladder after the first go-round. She will sometimes sit on it until she pee's twice, therefore getting used to emptying her bladder fully. And she definitely has the poop thing down pat. She hates the feel of poop in her diaper, and I have a feeling there will never be another poopy diaper to change in out household, yay!!!
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| Pottying makes her extremely happy! |
At this point, I have also purchased her some pull-ups, although I swore I would never use them. I feel they hinder potty training on older kids, not giving them a chance to feel wet and such. But at Piper's age, they're sometimes a bit easier because they last longer. With the diapers, the constant doing and undoing the sticky strips ruins more of them than wetting them at this point. So, having something we can pull up and down is saving on that end of things. When the weather turns warmer, I'm moving her into the thick training panties so she'll no longer have diapers at all. I figure once we move to this step, she will finalize her training and accidents will no longer be a part of her day. Of course she will still wear diapers or pull-ups to bed, I'm not expecting her to be able to go through the night without wetting herself for quite some time, but who knows, she may just surprise me again!
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| This is the "I'm not done yet" face! |
I never expected for Piper to begin potty training so early, nor to initiate it herself. Everyday I keep waiting for her to decided it was just a passing phase, but everyday she still wants to continue on her potty journey. I know I always brag about her smarts, I think all parents should find things to brag about when it comes to their children, but self-initiated potty training...now come on, everyone has to admit that that's pretty damn smart of her! Funny thing though, she still isn't walking. She crawled way early, so I figured she'd do the same when it came to walking, but oh no, she's happy at being able to crawl at 100 miles per hour! She can stand for a good length of time on her own, and she had taken a few steps before, but she gets so excited she wants to hop and then the whole walking thing just falls apart. Plus, she has a bit of a pigeon toe thing going with her right foot. I'm going to buy her a nice set of walking high tops soon to see if we can correct that little issue. So see, she's not perfect in every way, she has a squirly right foot, hahahahaha! Oh well, I'd choose early potty training over early walking any day of the week, for sure!
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| And sometimes it is serious work, lol! |
Well then, I think I've covered all the current potty training info for now. I'm sure she will die of embarrassment one day when she she's all these pics, but I won't worry about that today. We'll cross that road when we get to it!
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| Best time to potty is with games and singing... |
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| Or while watching her Baby TV! |
Once again, my daughter has amazed me with her smarts and being ahead of the curve. I wish I could tell people my secret on this one, as I have been asked, but I really don't have one, it all just kind of happened. But don't you know I love being able to brag about it...I'm so shallow that way, hahahahhaha!
Hope you've all enjoyed the post. Please do us a huge favor and take a second to vote for us over at Top Mommy and Top Baby Blogs. Also, take a moment to enter the giveaway I'm hosting. Link to it
Basically it's a review of some wonderful baby blankets and a plush toy mascot from
GooseWaddle along with a giveaway attached. I wouldn't endorse the products if Piper hadn't fallen head over heels for the gift set she received. You can win the same gift set, and I promise your child will love the items! It's easy to enter, there are multiple ways and you can enter daily, and it all ends April 9th, so go get those entries in stat!!!
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