Adventures in Potty Training (cont.)

Beginning with last Thursday, I decided to take a more progressive approach to potty training- I decided to let you run around naked from the waist down. Now, I had heard about this method of potty training before, but it always seemed too "gross" or "icky" (I mean, what about accidents?!?). You had two accidents. The first incident was definitely gross and icky. The second accident was right at the doorway of the bathroom- as if you had made a run for the bathroom but didn't quite make it. Since then (and that was Thursday, the first day of our "trial"), we've been accident free!

We even went to the South Park mall today (a good 45 minute drive from us), walked around the new Container store (nirvana!!) and had lunch without one accident! Daddy and I kept asking you if you needed to use the potty, and every time you would reply, "No!"Toward the end, you were even getting a little exasperated with us for asking you so often. Once you were ready, though, you used the restroom like a big girl with no fussing or complaints. Hooray! We're not completely there and I realize that there will be accidents, but we are making real progress!

I will miss many things about you being a baby, Katy, but diapers are certainly not one of them.

**A little more on the methodology (for those of you who care, or who are curious), on Thursday, Friday and Saturday, I took Katy to the bathroom every half hour, on the hour from the time that she woke up in the morning. Yes, that meant that we spent a lot of time in the bathroom! While Katy would sit on the toilet she would read her books that we kept close by. Katy got a big sticker for every time that she sat on the toilet- whether or not she went. She got little sticker to put on her potty chart every time she went. Once she fills that chart, we will go to the store and Katy can pick out a prize as her reward. She has almost filled the chart in both bathrooms!

On Thursday, I would also give Katy a small handful of fruity Cheerios as a "reward" for using the potty (I NEVER buy this cereal on a regular basis-I just thought that she might like them because they are sugary and Katy has quite a sweet tooth). The Cheerios quickly lost their "newness" and have since been tossed to the wayside and quickly turned down in favor of other things. Also, with Katy being naked from the waist down, that meant that I was watching her like a hawk for any signs that she might need to go. Watching Katy like a hawk also meant that I got NOTHING done on those days!

On Sunday, I decided to let Katy take the lead and let me know when she needed to go to the bathroom, opposed to taking her every thirty minutes to the bathroom. She did great at letting me know when she needed the potty. She did go once in her pull-up at the church nursery, but I choose to believe that was because it was a different environment with different adults around her.