Lila Grace is officially potty trained!!! Thankfully, this dreading endeavor was an absolute breeze for our little lady! Lila had one accident the first day, a couple on day 2 (both of which we're mostly mom's fault for being distracted), and since then, it's been smooth sailing. She is so very proud of herself, and it just melted my heart to hear her thoughtful brother encouraging and praising her along the way. Love seeing her cute little cheeks in big girl panties! I don't really believe that my methods were at all ground breaking, or much different from what most mommies try. But since I did have a very easy time potty training both my babies, & because several of my friends have asked...here's my method, in a nutshell. FYI: Cy was just a few months shy of turning 3 & Lila was 26 months when they were potty trained.
With both my kids, we talked up potty training for several weeks beforehand (read potty books, watched "Potty Time with Elmo", etc). On the big day, they get new big boy/girl underwear, we throw away any diapers we have left together, then I show them the stash of treats that I've gotten to reward successes (stickers, a new coloring book, candy, etc). I feed them a good breakfast, put them in their new underwear, encourage liquids, and then ask them every 15-30 minutes if they need to potty. Sometimes they may have to sit on the potty for a while so I have some things for them to do in the bathroom while they're waiting to go (books, stickers, coloring books). I make a huge deal of successes with lots of praise, they will occasionally call daddy or a grandparent and tell them what a big boy/girl they are, and they get to pick out a treat. With accidents, I clean them up, then we role play running to the potty from wherever the accident occurred. I try to stay at home and really focus on pottying for 2-3 days. I've chosen to use pullups and it hasn't caused confusion with either of my kids one bit- we just call them our "night time underwear". Lila will be in a pull-up when not at the house for several weeks & at night for months to come. I read that the abilty to hold it through the night is largely due to a hormone that a lot of toddlers don't start producing until they are a bit older, so I don't push potty training at night. In fact, Cy just recently started sleeping in his underwear at night even though he has woken up dry 99% of the time for months. I have yet to have to change wet sheets in the middle of the night
So I am thrilled to have two potty trained toddlers in our house, but a little sad knowing that statement means our babies aren't babies anymore. Way to go, Lila Grace!
