operation: no more diapers UPDATE

There are some of you out there (you know who you are) who have been on edge wondering why I haven't written a potty training update every day and when the next one will be.

You can sleep easy tonight.

Camille has been doing great!

The first two days were definitely the most intensive, and after that we've backed off a bit. But still nary a daytime diaper has touched her sweet little bottom.

She's had anywhere from one to four total accidents each day, and is still having a hard time telling us when she has to go (particularly when she has to poop), but she's still having fun wearing big girl panties and I don't have any problem changing her pants occasionally.

It's way better than doing diapers all the time!

She really can hold it for quite a while, so as long as I remember every couple of hours to bring her to the bathroom she does really well.

No, we're certainly not going back to diapers.

I'm so proud of this kid!

operation: no more diapers DAY THREE

UPDATE:

Our great day in panties continued through the entire evening. In fact, it got even better, if you can believe that. Just after she was fininshed eating supper I noticed she was going to poop and asked her if she needed to go to the bathroom. She started running toward the bathroom, and after a couple minutes of sitting there she actually pooped in the potty!

***

We've slightly adjusted our potty training approach today. Since Camille had been doing well we decided to take a risk and bring her to church this morning wearing her panties. We, of course, put pants on her as well. Instead of waiting for her to tell us she needed to go potty, we've been prompting her occasionally. She went potty before church and three times during church, and stayed dry through a luncheon after church and all the way home. When we got home she went potty, and she went again just before her nap at 1:30. She woke up from her nap at 3 completely dry again!

We've been out and about most of the day. We went to look at a minivan (which we are going to buy!) and she stayed dry. We're home now, and when I asked her if she needed to go potty she ansered "no."

She's wearing the same panties she put on this morning!!

We may ease up a bit on the prompting now that we're going to be home the rest of the afternoon/evening. I still want her to be able to recognize for herself when she needs to go, but it is very nice to know that we can be out and about without major accidents, so long as we take enough bathroom breaks.

We also talked to her preschool teacher this morning at church. It sounds like they are more than willing to work with potty training two-year-olds, so unless we have some major setbacks between now and Thursday I think we'll just plan on dropping her off in the morning with plenty of extra sets of clothes and hope for the best!

Did I mention she's stayed dry all day today? I'm simply beaming with pride!

I'll update later tonight to say how the rest of the day went. Right now I'm going to head outdoors into the 60 degree sunshine for some quality time with my two favorite people.


Day Three Concluding Thoughts:

We can do this. We can definitely do this!

Those diapers are not coming out of the closet until our new baby is ready for them! Now we just have to keep this up and eventually work on nighttime training. We ordered some semi-waterproof trainers that we will probably use for long car rides, and hopefully we can eventually use those for nigths.

But I'm so glad to know that this is do-able. Very do-able.

operation: no more diapers DAY ONE

**I've heard from several of you that I shouldn't be discouraged if this doesn't work, that she might just be too young. While I don't believe that 2 is too young to learn to use the potty, I am fully aware that timing is everything. I promise I won't be upset if this doesn't go as planned. But I am still confident that Camille can be successful. And if she's not successful, well I'm sure I'll love her just the same!


9:00 Woke Camille up, reminded her about today

9:05 We put her diapers in grocery bags and carried them downstairs to the closet

9:20 Breakfast - cereal with a sippy cup of orange juice (diluted with water)

9:24 Accident #1

10:20 Accident #2

10:56 Accident #3

11:13 Acted like she was going to poop, so we went to the potty. She peed.

11:25 Sippy cup of cranberry juice/water

11:40 Accident #4

11:55 Accident #5

12:25 Lunch - leftovers with a cup of milk

12:54 SUCCESS #1 - She walked right up to me and anxiously said, "Potty!" We hurried off to the bathroom and made it in time!

1:05-2:40 Nap time - Wet spot on her sheets (to be expected), and went potty when she got up.

2:45 False Alarm #1 - Camille told me she needed to go potty (even though she just went) but didn't.

2:50 Sippy cup of milk

3:43 Accident #6

5:00 Accident #7

5:40 Did the "potty dance" and my Dad asked if she needed to go potty. She did!

6:15 Dinner

6:50 Went potty before her bath, as usual.


Day One Concluding Thoughts:

Even though we only had one true "success," with Camille telling me she needed to go potty, I am still very encouraged by how our days went. Each time she had an accident I told her that it was OK, but that we put pee in the potty. Then we quickly walked to the bathroom and she peed on the potty again. So she's clearly stopping herself when she notices she's peeing on the floor and holds the rest until we get to the bathroom. And when she had the "success"? I sure praised the heck out of her!

"no more diapers"

operation: no more diapers

In just a few short minutes Camille will be waking up and putting on her big girl panties. I just can't believe this day has arrived. I know she's ready for this. Every time we sit her on the potty she pees. And for the past few days she's asked to wear her panties after her nap. I've been reminding her to tell us when she has to go potty. Sometimes she does, sometimes she doesn't.

But today (and for the next few days) we're biting the bullet and getting this over with.

My Plan of Attack:

• Together we will pack up her cloth diapers and "throw away" the few disposable diapers we have. We'll put the cloth diapers in the closet downstairs that currently has all of Tiny's things so that when Tiny is big enough he/she can use them.
• Camille will wear a shirt/sweatshirt, panties and socks. I've heard about people just letting their kids go naked from the waist down, but I don't want her needing to be naked in order to use the potty. If this isn't going to work with panties, then it isn't going to work for us right now.
• I won't automatically bring her to the potty at certain intervals, nor will I ask her if she has to go potty. She will have accidents (many, I'm prepared for), and I'll remind her that our pee and poop go in the potty. Eventually (or so I've read) she will learn to tell me when she needs to go.
• She will wear panties for nap time, but bedtime...Well, I still need to figure that one out. For now she'll probably wear a diaper at bedtime, but I'd like to get some cloth trainers that she can use at night.
• I'm going to offer Camille lots of water, milk and juice for the next few days (she normally only gets juice once per day) so that we have many learning opportunities.
• We will stay home. This is really going to be the hardest part for me. For my sanity, I really need to get out of the house at least once a day. Which is why I chose the weekend for potty training. Aaron and I can tag team tomorrow. I have my schedule freed up until next Wednesday, though I've heard that this can be done in three days.

The Short-Term Goal:
I told Camille yesterday that if she does a good job uisng the potty, and if she tells mommy she needs to use the potty, then she can wear panties to church on Sunday. She was pretty excited about that. I may regret that promise, but I really truly think she's ready for this!

The Long-Term Goal:
No more diapers!

If the daytime potty training goes as well as I expect it to, then I'm fully prepared to work on nighttime training soon.

Well, I've got a stack of big girl panties waiting for us, now I just need to wait for Camille to wake up. It's going to be a long day, but I'm confident that my little (nay, big) girl can do this!

I just heard her talking in the monitor. I guess it's time...