Potty Training

This could get really long with how long and hard I have thought about this potty training concept. To be quite honest, I didn't think potty training was going to be nearly as hard as it has been. There's something about it that makes me feel like a very inadequate mom. Everything else with motherhood thus far has come pretty naturally to me: getting the girls to sleep 12 hrs at night and take great naps, getting them to eat whatever I put in front of them, taking sky's binky away, and then her bottle, not giving them anything to drink to sleep with, discipline, whatever it is... Everything has seemed like 2nd nature to me. Sure it's way hard, but I've always had my system and it worked. And then there was potty training...

Round 1 of potty training with sky went down 6months ago. I've read multiple books on the subject and decided to try out a method I thought sounded great. It was absolutely terrible and I quit the 4th day. I decided to take a little break and try the next month. It went better... Actually 2 weeks with no diapers, but then the holidays came and it was way too hard to stick to it.

Guys, I'm not good at dealing with failure. At all. It's just potty training, but I seriously felt like I failed and was doing something wrong. That's where the inadequate mom thoughts came in.

I decided to take a much longer break and decided that maybe Sky just wasn't ready. And now, I believe that was part of the problem. I was really scared to start up again, but decided that I was going to need to come up with my own plan, because all these methods that I've read about just aren't cutting it for Sky. I almost feel like this potty training thing has been training me too.

Last Monday I started it. I knew sky was ready, it was the right timing, and I knew I wasn't going to turn back. Truly spent a lot of time at grandparent's houses those first few days, so I could have one-on-one time with Sky. The week before I talked a lot to sky about how the next week we were going to have a potty training party and that she wasn't going to wear diapers anymore. When the day came she totally understood. I also want to mention that I'm totally against pull-ups at any time of potty training. I'm a dive-in and do it type and I think it confuses them.

I loaded her up with drinks that first day and had her going potty at least every 30min. I rewarded her with candy the first day. The 2nd and 3rd day I started a jar she got to put cotton balls in. (The jar is full now, which means we will be taking a trip to the zoo!) I also got a bunch of toys from the $1 store to reward when she did something incredible. I didn't like the idea of her knowing what she was going to get and being demanding of it. We also got into our routine. I learned what her pattern was and she learned to control her body. At this point, i pretty much jut take her to the potty every couple hrs unless she initiates it. It actually works much better for me! I need a schedule, so this couldn't be a better system.

I am proud to announce that I have considered Skylin potty trained! Sure, she has accidents now and then, but she is doing amazing. We have been gone a lot this week and I've been prepared for accidents, but she hasn't had them. We even did the easter pageant last night and she used the bathroom there. Major success! I see the light at the end of the tunnel now and am so glad that my first experience with potty training is coming to an end. Go Sky! I'm am so proud of her and she looks darn cute in her panties!