Adventures in Potty Training

We are officially Potty Training. Potty "Training" is a very lose definition of what we are doing, I'd say. Basically, one day we just took diapers away, and we are only wearing big girl panties around here from now on...

Let me be the first to admit that I know nothing about potty training. I have no idea what the "right" way is to do it, and I have no idea how to tell if your kid is "ready". In my humble opinion, there is no "right" way. And the only way to find out if your kid is ready is to try. So that's what we're doing.

Here's what we did...
- As soon as Lucy wakes up in the morning, her diaper /  pull-up comes off, and she goes straight into big girl panties, which she wears all day long, including nap time. Originally, we let her wear diapers for naps too, but then we figured out that she was just holding her bladder until nap time, going pee pee in her diaper, and then holding it again until she got another diaper at bedtime. What a tricky minx she is. So, we put a waterproof cover over her mattress, and now she wears panties for nap time, too.
- Throughout the day, we try to make sure that Lucy stays hydrated and ask her periodically if she needs to use the potty. She pretty much always says, "No." Eventually, we just stopped asking. She has had several accidents, but on the plus side, she has also started telling us when she has to use the potty. That was always the goal, to help her become self-sufficient enough to initiate the potty-using. This way, I don't have to hover around her constantly, repeatedly asking, "Do you have to go potty? Are you sure you don't have to go potty?"

We still have quite a long way to go. When we go out in public, for example, she refuses to use public restrooms. Who can blame her? She says, "Potty too big." I think it scares her a little, even if one of us is holding her over the potty. So far, she is good at holding it until we get home, but I don't want her to have to hold her bladder too long. We try to keep our errands short these days. And, obviously, I carry spare clothes everywhere we go.

I also have yet to see her go poo poo on the the potty. This, from what I understand, is another beast entirely. I have no idea how to tackle this problem, and we probably won't for some time. We aren't really in any rush. 

I anticipate a little backsliding when Baby Sister arrives. The combination of me caring for a new baby and the big change for Lucy might cause her to regress. From what I hear, this is totally normal and temporary, and it has never been my goal to have Lucy 100% potty trained before Baby arrives. Not only is that unrealistic (for us), but it isn't really fair to Lucy. I feel like we will already be asking so much of her as a big sister, and I want the transition to be as easy for her as possible. I'll write more on this another time. 

Hope you all had a happy Fourth of July! We had fireworks going off constantly in our neighborhood. Poor Sadie was a nervous wreck! On Saturday, we enjoyed a fun cookout with our friends and watched the kiddos run through the sprinklers. It was perfection.