Things starting with the Letter "P"

Potty. Pee pee. Poo poo. Panties.

These words have been used more times than I'd like to admit this past week.

That's because Little Miss Kendall has decided to be a big girl!

For some background here, this all started about a year ago. Last summer, she was giving me some clues that she was ready to start potty training. At that time, I was also pretty pregnant with Cameron, so my mobility was limited. We tried really hard for about 3 weeks, and then I had to give up. Those weeks were extremely stressful for me and for her.

She wasn't ready.

Since that time, every now and then, we'd pull out the potty chair, but she never really was interested.

Over the last couple months, we would try to get more serious about it, but again, she showed very little interest.

I really thought I was doing it all wrong. After all - most of the books say that when you start, you have to be consistent, and just do it! Oh, if only it were that easy...

We made HUGE progress a couple of weeks ago. I was changing Kendall's diaper after her nap, and she (in her words) told me she didn't want to wear a diaper, she wanted to wear her panties. I told her if she did, then she'd have to sit on the potty and try to go pee pee. She excitedly said, "Okay!"

We went downstairs and she happily sat on the potty for a long time. But nothing happened. Then Cami woke up from her nap, and I really needed to go to Target. So, as much as I hated getting Kendall off the potty to put a diaper on her and take her to Target, I had to. I told her that when we got back, she could sit on the potty again.

While we were in Target, she said, "Only big girls wear panties?" I said yes. As is typical in toddler world, we repeated this answer and question about 50 times. I didn't think too much of it.

When we got home, it was about 5:00, and I had to get dinner ready and feed Cami. So I'm rushing around the kitchen, putting things away, getting things ready, and not really paying too much attention to Kendall. She started saying, "I go potty! I go potty!" Up until this time, she had never actually gone on the potty, so I thought she just wanted to sit on it. So I said, "Yeah, you can sit on the potty," still not really paying too much attention.

Then I heard that sound. I quickly stopped what I was doing, looked at Kendall, and she had a huge smile on her face.

So, from then on, I just kind of followed her lead....if she wanted to wear panties, she wore panties. If she wanted to wear a diaper, she wore a diaper.

Again, this is totally contrary to what the books say to do. But, Kendall is pretty strong-willed (no idea where she got that from), and if I remotely suggested wearing panties or going on the potty, that was the last thing she wanted to do. It had to be her idea. There were a lot of accidents, because she still wasn't totally getting it. And every now and then I would suggest she sit on the potty, and she would. But there was still a lot of diaper-wearing. Basically, during this time, she got good at holding it for long periods of time.

Then, last Monday, she (on her own) went potty. Then an hour or so later, she went again! This was it, I told myself. She's ready. She's doing this on her own. She gets it!

So since then, the only time she's worn diapers is for nap time and bed time - we've gone to Target, the doctor's office, strawberry pickin', Ikea, and church! And I'm happy to say that she hasn't had an accident outside of the house, except for today at the park with Megan, Joey, and Hannah. She has had a few accidents at home, but really, very few.

Now, having a somewhat potty-trained toddler has brought up some issues that I never really took into consideration before. Like, what to do when we're out in public. Kendall's tiny. Her little toushie would fall through a regular-sized toilet. So when we went to the doctor's office the other day, I brought her potty seat with me (the seat that fits on the toilet, not her potty chair). It was big and bulky, and just didn't seem to be very practical to do on a regular basis.

So when I got home, I asked some people on a message board what to do. One of them said she used a foldable potty seat like this



but then I found this one



and it's a keeper! It will also be a great thing to take with us on our upcoming trips this summer - and really, everywhere. I can't say enough good things about this little product! It is small enough to put in the diaper bag. And it works well as a potty seat and a potty chair. Kendall has used it both ways with no problems. So, there you have it, those of you with potty trainers - the Potette 2-in-1 by Kalencom. I strongly recommend it!

Anyways, I can sum up my potty training experience like this: at first, I thought the random attempts throughout this past year were all for nothing. But I see now that it's all kind of worked together very well! One method doesn't work for everyone, and I'm not sure what I did was a method. She finally just got it on her own - it just clicked!

It definitely makes life different. If we're about to get in the car for a good bit of time, I tell her she has to go before we leave. That's hard for her to understand, and sometimes she doesn't really want to go. For instance, today as we were leaving the park after hanging out with Megan and the kids...we sat there for a good 20 minutes before she finally went. But I was not going to get in the car for an hour unless she went.

So, there's my potty training story. It wasn't by-the-book, but it worked for us!