Potty trained

I think fingers crossed that Faith may finally be completely potty trained.  She does great at home but has serious issues using strange potties.  I kinda get that though.

She finally pooped in her princess potty today.  Hooray!

And treat from the treasure chest was her prize.  I hope she keeps this up.  

Potty training attempt in progress

Faith really likes watching her big sister go potty like a big girl.

So I decided to let Faith give it a try.  She really liked sitting on the potty and using the toilet paper, but wouldn't you know that she just wouldn't go...until I put her diaper back on her again.  Looks like we'll be waiting a bit longer before trying this again.

Caught with my pants down.

I was in the our bathroom today when the phone rang.  Before I could get to it I hear Grace say, "Hello!"  So I hurry to wash my hands hoping that Grace hasn't actually answered the phone.  (I've been waiting for an Elder from our church to call and let me know when we're having dinner together.)  But Grace has answered the phone and as she sees me coming for her, she takes off running down the hallway all the while continuing her conversation by saying, "Well.  My mom.  She's going potty.  You there?  Yeah!  My mom's going potty right now.  She's potty trained!"  All I could do was hope that it was someone I knew and not the Elder from the church... 

Fortunately, it was just my mom.

Mermaid Barbie to the rescue

Ever since Faith was born, Grace has refused to use the potty. When I ask her if she needs to tee-tee in the potty I get a resounding, "No!" I've tried asking her if she's a big girl ("Yes!") and then explaining to her that big girls tee-tee in the potty. Her response? "I pah-ee in my die-per. Like Bait!" (I potty in my diaper. Like Faith.) Hmmm. Back to bribery I suppose. Only this time Hersey kisses aren't working. Neither are lollipops or any other type of candy or ice cream or edible goodies.

So I broke out the big guns. A mermaid! Grace adores mermaids. After watching Disney's Little Mermaid Grace has decided that she is a mermaid. And I just happened to have a Barbie mermaid doll in our attic that Aunt Hope bought for Grace's birthday.  So today I pulled it out of the attic and showed it to Grace.  It was love at first sight.  She said, "Oh, Momma.  Uh mer-maid!  She's bew-ful!  Tan I haff her?"  (Oh, Momma.  A mermaid!  She's beautiful!  Can I have her?)  So I told her that mermaids like to help little girls tee-tee in the potty.  And that if Grace tee-teed in the potty Grace could have her.  Grace's response?  "I need to go tee-tee, Momma!"  And she did. 

As soon as she finished she asked, "Tan I haff my mermaid now?"  (Can I have my mermaid now?)  And I said no.  She had to tee-tee in the potty all day and then when Daddy came home she could have her mermaid.  Much to my surprise she was okay with that.  Grace continued to inspect her reward.  "Yook Momma.  Dare's sun-dasses!  And shoes!  Ware's her utter shoe?"  (Look, Momma.  There's sunglasses!  And shoes!  Where's her other shoe?)  And so on.  Grace inspected every tiny detail of her mermaid and accessories but never tried to open her or threw any type of temper tantrum.  She was content to look her over and talk about her.  We sat her on the kitchen countertop while Grace ate her snack and Grace told me all the fun things she and her mermaid were going to do together.  "I brush her pri-ee hair.  And put on mermaid shoes on her feet.  And we pay pay pay!"  (I'm going to brush her pretty hair.  And put mermaid's shoes on her feet.  And we are going to play, play, play!)

And when she felt the urge to tee-tee, Grace let me know and we took off to the potty.  She didn't tee-tee once in her diaper.  I was amazed.  And when her Daddy got home from work, she ran up to him and showed him her mermaid and then immediately looked at me and asked, "Tan I haff my mermaid now?"  (Can I have my mermaid now?)  And so we opened her surprise and Grace played with her for the rest of the evening.  She even slept in the bed with her. 

I'm hoping Mermaid (that's what Grace named her new toy.  How original.) will continue to help Grace go tee-tee in the potty.  And we've told Grace that if she tee-tees in her diaper we have to take mermaid away.  I hoping this works.  As for pooping in the potty, I'm afraid Mermaid isn't going to be enough to make Grace do that in the potty.  But that's okay.  I have a plan for that, too...

Something has finally clicked

Potty training.  It's something that we have been struggling with for months off and on, but now I think Grace finally gets it.  Mostly.  Last Saturday, she tee-teed in the potty seven times without once wetting her diaper.  

Then on Sunday she woke me up by yelling up the stairs that she needed some help.  When I came down, she had already taken off her pajama pants and diaper and said she needed to go tee-tee.  And sure enough she did.  She also pottied like a big girl 2 more times, but then her schedule got knocked out  of whack.  Taking her to church and then having friends come over for the day caused her to lose her concentration or something.  Then the same thing happened on Monday when my family stopped by to go out for lunch.

Tuesday David went back to work at his office for the first time since his surgery.  He worked from home all last week. Grace and I worked on going to the potty most of the week but it was still hit or miss since we left the house a few times and Grace was sick so we didn't even attempt those days.

Then yesterday we drove over to Foley for the afternoon.  We walked around the shops and then I had to go to the bathroom.  Grace shocked me by saying she needed to tee-tee in the potty, too.  And she did!  And she pottied 3 more times after we got home.  She was in the middle of taking her bath when she told me she needed to tee-tee in the potty, so I got her out, put her on the potty and Grace did her business.  When she was finished, we cleaned her up and she got back in the tub and played for another 15 minutes.  Amazing!

This morning was the most surprising yet.  I got up to take Chloe out and when I came back inside, I heard Grace calling for some help.  Much to my surprise, she was sitting on the potty, had already tee-teed, and was waiting for help to get up to the sink and wash her hands.  

I think she just might be potty trained.  Finally.  I'm sure the rewards have something to with it...

But it really hasn't been as difficult as it could have been.  We've been trying off and on for months now, but my philosophy has been to stop when it's too much of an ordeal.  Mostly we'd take a few weeks off when Grace would throw a tantrum when I'd try to get her to sit on the potty and yell out things like "I dun won to poh-ee!" (I don't want to potty!)  A few weeks later, we'd try again.  Finally, finally!  She not only seems interested but willing to potty like a big girl.  We may have her in big girl panties by the time Little Indy comes along after all...  I certainly hope so.

Potty training. Success?

After coming home from our trip to Charlotte, we've really been working hard on potty training with Grace.  I would really like to have her completely trained before the baby is born.  So I came up with the bright idea of offering Grace "a really big surprise!" if Grace would tee-tee in the potty.  She got pretty excited about her "pies" (surprise) and sat on the potty willingly this morning.  Much to my amazement, she tee-teed like a pro.

So I gave her one Hersey kiss (candy that I bought on clearance the day after Easter and saved just for potty training) and it worked!  She was so excited about her "big pies" (big surprise) that an hour later she announced to me and David, "I need to tee-tee in duh pah-ee."  (I need to tee-tee in the potty).  So we rushed her to the potty and sure enough she tee-teed in the potty again.  Of course we made a big to-do about it and gave her another "big surprise."  

Not an hour later, she needed to go again.  So far today, she has tee-teed in the potty SEVEN times and not once in her diaper!  We are so excited we can barely stand it!  Now if we could just get her to poo-poo in the potty...maybe we should offer her TWO big surprises for that...

There's a first time for everything

Grace's typical bath time routine involves either me or David filling Grace's bathtub up with warm water, adding plenty of bubbles, and tossing in several toys for her to play with.  Then we put Grace in the tub, bathe her, and finally turn the water off before the tub overflows.  Since the tub is off the kitchen, I sometimes leave her to play while I clean up dinner.  She's such a noisy bather often singing songs like "Woe, Woe, Woe, A Boat" (Row, Row, Row Your Boat) or "Spongebob Stare Pans" (Spongebob Squarepants) at the top of her lungs that I don't worry about her playing in the tub alone.  Of course, I check on her often in spite of being able to hear her.

Well, earlier tonight Grace was playing in the tub and David and I were sitting together in the kitchen chatting when Grace got real quiet.  Then we heard her running down the hallway to her room.  I went to check on her when she slammed the door shut, leaned against it and said, "I not weddy for you yet, Momma!"  (I'm not ready for you yet, Momma!)  I responded by telling her I needed to dry her off with a towel  and put her pajamas on so she wouldn't get cold.  Her response was, "Dare's poo-poos in my baff tub!"  (There's poo-poo in my bathtub!)  

So I checked the bathroom and saw all of her bath toys lined up neatly on the side of the tub.  Not unusual for her.  She typically does that before getting out of the tub.  Then I leaned closer,and sure enough there were poo-poos in the bathtub.  Oh my.

So I grabbed Grace and took her upstairs to our bathroom and showered her off (her third bath of the day).  When I was finished cleaning her up I headed back downstairs to scrub her tub clean (for the second time today).  While cleaning we noticed poo-poos on some of her toys.  Gross!  She must have been playing with the poo-poo!  So I threw all the toys away.  

Now could someone please explain to me why she will poo-poo in her bathtub while she is in it and not poo-poo in the potty?

Potty Training

Grace really surprised me today.  She started taking her clothes off and said "I won pah-ee" (I want to potty.)  So we ran to the potty, I sat her on it, and she tee-teed in the potty all by herself! 

And then she said "I uh big durl" (I'm a big girl.)  She certainly is.  I'm crossing my fingers and hoping she'll keep using the potty now.

Tee-Tee on the Tile

We have someone scheduled to look at the house today at 2:00pm. After talking to David, I decided to move the Jeep to the third bay of the garage to make the garage look bigger. While I was moving it, Grace was inside playing with her dolls.

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When I came back inside (about 3 minutes later) I noticed that she wasn't wearing her diaper...again. And then it happened. I stepped in the tee-tee. Oh boy.

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So twice today, she has taken off her diaper and gone tee-tee in unexpected places. At least this time it wasn't on the carpet. I guess she's decided she's trained and doesn't want to any more diapers. Now if only I can get her to actually tee-tee in the potty, we'd be doing great.

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My strategy now is to put her on the potty every hour AND keep a very close eye on her. As soon as I see her pulling at her diaper, it's time to run to the potty. Wish us luck!

Time to Try Potty-Training...Again

I'm sitting here on my laptop while Grace is playing with her dolls. Suddenly, I hear a suspicious giggle and then an "Oh MY!"

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To my surprise, my little darling had removed all of her clothes - diaper included. Then she proceeded to climb on top of our leather ottoman, squat, and tee-tee! "Oh My," indeed.

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So once again, we are going to attempt the task of potty-training. All suggestions, ideas, and prayers from Mommys who've done this before are welcome!