I want to say we're done with potty training, well the training part anyway. I think we're on the maintenance portion now. We've taught her what she needs to know and now we help her stay dry and clean. The clean part is a little harder sometimes but she can hold it longer but she's getting better. This past weekend we had two full days of her staying dry. That includes waking up dry.
We're still using the pull-ups at church, nap time and night time until we're more confident in her willingness to tell us she has to go. Although she's getting better in that regards too. She's been more inclined to use the bathroom when we're out in a restaurant or store.
So, my final thoughts.
First of all, if you have absolutely no clue how to go about this potty training thing like I did, read up BEFORE you start. I checked out a book after we had already started and as I read through it I kept thinking, "man I wish I had known that before starting all of this. That makes so much more sense." For example focusing on staying dry and clean and not on just using, or sitting on, the potty
B: Don't give up too quickly. I heard from a lot of my friends that they fully potty trained their kids in like two weeks flat. Even other people who said it only took 3 days. Well it's taken us 4 weeks to get to where we are today and I know others who have taken even longer. It's that same ol' saying "every kid is different."
3: Naked is awesome! It's the best method I mean. Letting your kids run naked while at home really seems to help them make the quick association of needing to pee or poop and doing it on the potty. If nothing else it will help you get some quick initial successes.
Lastly, have every single trick in your bag, ready to use and start thinking up new ones. I have never had to use so many tricks to help Hadley be successful. Along with this goes patience. We started using M&M's as a reward, then it turned into playing in the water in the sink, then it went to fruit snacks, now she has all 3 rewards to choose from! She also likes to get behind the shower curtain afterward and then pull it back saying, "Ta Da!" The biggest roadblock for us was getting Hadley to want to tell us she had to go pee. She knew she had to before it happened, she was just too busy playing so we used tricks to make it happen. This created habit and now I think we're finally on the downward slope.
I'm tempted to say, ok ok maybe she wasn't really ready if we had to work so hard to get her to stop playing to use the potty. The thing is we knew she knew how to she just had more important things to be doing at the time so we had to teach her to take potty breaks in between. While most people say don't push I think there is a fine line of working against your child's will and making it a traumatizing experience.
Sure just about any kid may do it faster and easier the older they are. So if there are people who think we started too early, whatev. We did it! I feel like she's got it down and now just needs to practice, practice, practice. I know we'll still have accidents. My initial thoughts when starting was she'd be fully self-sufficient and then we could say she's potty trained. I think I was wrong to have that expectation though.
When I say we're done, I don't have to worry too much about her just peeing in her underwear anymore. It might happen once in a while but she's gotten better at knowing when to go and we're consistent in reminding her. I imagine, as I've witnessed with other kids, you remind for quite a while. I think Jon still reminds me to go before we leave the house.
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