May 1st we tackled the potty training head on. I have a few things to say about this....
#1 by far, the best part is seeing the cute legs and bum in the underwear. And really, Olive has the cutest legs ever so I can't stop smiling and admiring her cute body in those undies. ha ha
#2 this potty training thing with Olive in particular had to be tackled very carefully. If she senses a power struggle in any way, about any topic, unfortunately that means mom/dad lose and Olive wins. So the approach here had to be that it was time for her to go in the potty because that's what kids do. I couldn't let her think this was my idea or something I really wanted her to do, and I also knew I couldn't make a big deal out of it, both positively or negatively. ha ha Oh Olive....
My approach with potty training in general too, with any child, is that I want it to be a self disciplined thing as early as possible so I don't set any timer, or take them on any schedule. I just give them lots of juice and let them start to control it, which does mean it's pretty messy for the first few hours. By the afternoon of day one though, she was already doing great telling me when she had to go. And actually, a major lesson I learned here (that could have been really horrible) was that giving lots of apple juice is great to get them to go often, but very bad because it started to create a little bit of a diarrhea problem! ha ha But guess what, she pooped once on the floor and then never again! She even potty trained with pretty loose stool and handled that like a champ. phew.....
So then I think on about day 4, the excitement for her of going on the potty was gone, and she was starting to get really annoyed with it all. At this point I started trying to motivate her with stickers, or a treat, but she didn't really care. So it was time for me to do something, and do it quick to keep the good momentum flowing. And then inspiration struck and "the potty candle" saved the day. Every time she went on the potty she could blow out the potty candle and it was magical! She was so excited and so happy. Who knew that relighting and blowing out the same candle over and over again after going potty would be the trick, but it sure worked for her! Yay for the potty candle and accompanying "Happy Potty to You" song.
Update: as of today, August 2nd - this potty training is still somewhat haunting us. We did the potty candle about a week and then she was good to go. She never had accidents and life was back to normal and all was well. Fast forward to the end of the summer and what the heck happened?! She never poops in her pants (thank goodness!) but she is always peeing in her pants now. It only happens at home and we are out and about a lot which tells me she can control it, so when I ask her why she didn't go on the potty she just laughs, and then I usually mentally strangle her while walking away to get the clorox wipes. This girl......
1 comment:
Truly, that Happy Potty to You was ingenious! It worked like a charm.
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