Three Days of the Three P's

Panties.

Potties.

Patience.

Lil red had no idea what was coming.......

Livin' the good life...diapers and all. ;)

So innocent and naive. Peeing and pooping as she pleased in her diaper. Little did she know that we had evil mommy and daddy plans to strip her of her security and force her to use a (gasp) potty.....

She's got plenty of practice with the "no diaper" thing.

I admit....I've been dragging my feet about this whole potty training business. And yes, I realize it probably doesn't count as dragging my feet considering we are starting before she turns two. So I guess I should say that I've been putting off the entire process and planning as a whole. Terror. Sheer terror has kept me from planning our attack. I am typing this as Day One is coming to an end. Currently I'm listening to the terrible sounds of a wailing toddler being held captive in her crib without her sippy cup full of water. But before I go into too much detail about how she's handling this whole process let me back up and start from the beginning.......

I finally got the kick in the butt I needed to begin. First it was my mom's potty chair that dad sent home with me during my last trip to Enid. Next it was Nanny questioning me about buying a potty and helping me get the necessary training items that I was avoiding buying. And finally it was the fact that she'd used the potty for both Jennifer and Nanny one time each. In the back of my mind I'd planned to start the process on a Friday and whip her into shape over the weekend. I turned to the best resource I knew to get advice on training a two-year-old....FACEBOOK to the rescue. Here I found some of the same advice that Riley's cousin Heidi had shared with me about a week ago. I'd done a very quick search for the popular "3 Day Method" but quickly closed my browser upon seeing that it wasn't free. I wasn't that committed yet to buy some material. Heck, I hadn't even purchased a potty chair yet. Nanny to the rescue in this case....she made a stop by BabiesRUs while in OKC to pick up a couple of potty chairs and some panties for big girl. Hallie had been having a tough time figuring out Grammy's potty mainly because it has a heavy lid that she likes to open and slam shut. One of those slamming sessions didn't end so well. So new potties was the answer. 

Day One: Friday.....

It worked out well because it was my day off and Riley's last day of vacation. I crawled out of bed before everyone else and laced up my shoes for a run. As I walked down the driveway I quickly checked my Facebook where I found another mention of the 3 Day potty training method. I was finally sold. It sounded quick and simple. Well maybe simple isn't quite the word. I thought I'd give it a shot and downloaded it right then and there on my phone. I figured I'd kill two birds with one stone and walk while reading. One hour later I was studied up and ready to grab potty training by the horns. Once Hallie woke up that morning I gave Nanny the go ahead to come over and drop off her big girl panties and potties. Yes, potties plural. This has been a life saver as we've been able to run to the nearest bathroom when the occasion arose. I got some sweet shots of Nanny presenting Hallie with her new big girl items but my camera card wasn't actually in the camera. Dummy me. But here's a shot of her hydrating upon her frog potty while checking out her assortment of panties.....

One of the keys to this magic method was keeping her loaded up on fluids.....

"Gatorade?? Popsicles?? This sounds like a dream!"

The potties were more of a toy to her as I heard her in the living room pushing them around in circles....

"Who says potty training can't be fun??!"

"Just testin' in out"

This particular method emphasizes getting rid of all diapers and not using pull-ups for training. Underwear only. She seemed to really like her new clothing item as she cuddled on the couch next to Emmi....

I was ready for a very loooooong day of toddler-watching. I was prepared to watch her every move and catch every accident just as the guide had advised. And let me tell you, we had plenty of accidents. The potty training guru suggested involving them in games, lots of play, and even daily chores to keep them nearby. Meet my new laundry helper....

"This is the third load!! When does it end??"

It didn't end. Literally. All. Day. Long. Towels, sheets, underwear, Hallie. Ok, maybe I didn't throw her in the washing machine but it would've been easier than wiping her down every five seconds. I already knew the girl was my best friend.....BUT Day One we took our friendship to a whole 'nother level. Through the frustration and exhaustion there was a very beautiful thing that happened. Get this...we became BFFs!!!!! Riley kept laughing at us as we were literally connected to eachother all day. We had a playdate with some friends planned and I didn't want to cancel so we broke the guru's rules and left the house in a pull-up (ssshhh, dont' tell please!). Although I didn't expect anything from her while she was busy playing I went ahead and kept repeating the words "Hallie, please tell mommy when you need to potty." But she was busy as you can imagine. We ate and played for about an hour and a half before she was requesting a nap. That's new. Lol. She napped and got a huge hug and dance from this momma when she woke up dry!!! We had a long afternoon ahead of us and I really hadn't prepared well for it at all. So what did we spend our time doing???? Well I'll show you.....

We made gorgeous head ornaments....

We even made one for daddy too....

We drank 842 glasses of water and juice. We ate about 23,570 popsicles. The potty training guru told us to. So we did....

I am confident in saying that I uttered the phrase "Hallie, tell mommy when you need to go potty" at least 100 times. Not kidding. By the end of the day I was really close to digging out my old recorder and just playing that back to her over and over. I was getting tired of my own voice. She was a sweetheart and tolerated my incessant request by answering with a "k, momma." Although I'm certain she didn't always know what she was saying she said it with promise. When I asked her if she needed to go she would respond with a "no pee pee momma." Mkay, just checking. ;) Day one ended with three successful trips to the potty and ten accidents. The washing machine was seeing more work in one day that it usually does in a week. I could tell that she wasn't quite sure what to think about what I'd just put her through. It kinda broke my heart to see my innocent little girl running around in her panties. Nobody warned me that it was so stinkin' emotional. Riley even seemed sad about it too. He mentioned reverting back to diapers several times so that she could stay little. Nope. We were trudging on no matter what. I was going to get my twenty-five dollar's worth out of this magic potty training program if it killed me. And I think it almost did. Hehe.




Day Two: Saturday


Prison is what I would compare the first half of the day to. Confining, monotonous, frustrating, tedious. Should I go on??? We all started the day in chipper moods but things went downhill quickly after breakfast. I skipped in to snag my big girl from her crib this morning. I was beyond anxious to see if I would find a huge mess in her crib or if she'd been able to stay clean and dry all night. Of course I imagined the worst just to prepare myself. I was astonished to find a happy, hopping girl peeking up over her crib. I picked her up and began cheering when I felt that she was dry as a bone. We marched straight into the potty to try to go when I caught a whiff of something pee-ish. Darn it. I left her on the potty to do some investigating. She was dry as a bone right....dried pee. Yuck! She must've peed early on in the night and been too tired to realize it. And the laundry began. But we were still standing strong and ready for a big day of panties and potties. She ate a quick breakfast and began her liquid intake frenzy while I tried to straighten up the house while she was confined in her high chair. I made sure we had a clean stack of big girl underwear for the day as well as clean  towels for potential and very likely clean ups. Once I let her down from her chair the accidents began. And kept going. It was as if she had no recollection of all we'd practiced yesterday. I could tell she was becoming stressed about all of the difficulty so I thought it was a good idea to get out of the house for lunch at Nanny's house. We loaded up our potty gear and stayed dry on the way there. I was a basket case by noon. A complete and total wreck. I was not a fun person to be around. Ask Riley. I kept my calm demeanor around Hal but was a mean, angry, crazed mother around my poor husband who kept throwing in pointers like "well just put a pull-up on her babe" and "why don't we just go back to diapers and try again later." NO and NO. I hadn't made it through half of the program for nothing. I was going to stick it out. Suddenly I found myself very protective of the method. As if it was something I lived and died by. Haha. When in reality I wanted to find the lady who made up this method and punch her square in the face....then drag her over to my house to do the loads of laundry and mop the floor. We made it through lunch but not without two accidents and one half successful pee pee in the potty. Luckily we made it across town without any accidents and I put her right down for a nap. And I cried. While I was in the middle of my sob fest I could hear her protesting from her room. Did not go well. After lots of high pitched screeching I went in to check her and found a very sad child who just needed a hug from her mommy. I think we both needed that moment. It sort of erased the events of the first half of the day as she hugged me tight and wrapped her little legs around my waist. She laid her head on my shoulder for the longest time while I hummed Etta James "At Last" in her ear. Don't ask me where that song came from but it seemed to be the most soothing tune I could come up with. ;) I rocked her back and forth until I could feel her breathing become heavier and then put her in her bed and watched her curl up with her doll.

Melt. My. Heart.

It was right then and there when I realized how traumatic this must be for her. Changing everything she knows as normal. Taking away her cup of water at bedtime and naptime. I cried for the second time after I closed her door. But these were overwhelming happy tears. Once she woke up we celebrated another nap without an accident!!!! Hooray!!!! The afternoon took quite the turn for the better. Much better. We found plenty to do to pass the time. We played puzzles....

We tried out the patio furniture that dad had put inside while he was painting....

We put bandaids on her "boo boos" (and mine).....

We organized her big girl pantie drawer....

Despite the madness of following her and watching her every move, I was highly entertained several times throughout the day. The funniest moment came as she was going #2 and looked down into her potty and started screaming. "MOMMA!!!! POO POO!!! EWWWWW!!" while making the funniest face with her nose scrunched up. I had to calmly tell her that it was where it belonged and it was perfectly okay. She looked at me with a very skeptical look but seemed to be okay with my explanation once I changed the subject. There were more messy moments than I can recall throughout the day. She was fidgety while on the potty and obviously very anxious about just letting it go when she needed to. When the day was all said and done she had gone poo poo twice in her potty and pee pee four times with only a few minor accidents that afternoon. I was one happy momma. My faith meter was rising and for that I was relieved. I had run to Walmart earlier in the day during her nap and picked up some items....one of those items happened to be a big surprise for Hal. She had definitely earned it with all of her hard work that day. Anybody who can put up with someone chasing and staring at them for an entire day is awesome in my books. I let Riley give her the surprise and the look on her face (and his) was priceless....

They became the best of friends in no time and even watched Lion King together on the couch.....

In big girl heaven

Day Three: Sunday


And so begins day #3. I sit here watching my big girl eat her breakfast next to her new friend Dora, who by the way has her own cup of juice and a piece of banana to eat. See, I wouldn't lie....

I was again excited to see if she had had an accident last night. The answer was "yes", she did. But not a big one. The method mentions waking them up in the middle of the night to make them go but it's obvious that this lady has never met my heavy night sleeper. I can see many nighttime accidents in our future. But I'm okay with that and am confident that it will get better. The strange part is that Hallie must not realize it at all...which is kinda gross really when I think about it. Sleeping in pee is about the last thing I'd like to do. Bless her sleepy heart. I just love how she snuggles with her friends....

Pre-pee pee

Currently we are sitting on the couch watching Lion King, by request, again. Her and Dora are sitting on a towel for damage control but I'm watching this one next to me like a hawk because I'm bound and determined to make today successful. In fact this towel I mentioned is following her wherever she goes....

 Riley was incredibly busy with home projects. He gave me permission to "keep on him" about getting all of his list done. Excuse me??? You want me to nag and remind you of all the things we need to get done??? I don't think I'll ever hear those words come out of his mouth again. While he was busy finishing up painting and hanging the chandelier in the bedroom we were watering the inside plants....

Helping supervise his work of course....

"He needs us momma, dontcha think?"

Before we knew it the first half of day 3 was over and it was time to take a nap. Since we had two successful dry naps in a row I had high hopes for today. I took advantage of the quiet time to go for a run and straighten up the house, fold the piles of laundry and plan for the week ahead. I wish this whole potty training business didn't seem like such a fail/pass sort of thing. But little did I know she had a huge comeback on the horizon. So far this afternoon we have had five successes and no accidents. Riley gave her another big surprise after she had a very big string of trips to the potty....

She earned a soft little lamb that makes noises when you pet its back. She enjoyed feeding it out of its food and water bowl....

We made a fort to pass the time which had both of us very excited. Riley spruced it up because men's fort building skills are obviously better than those of a woman. Duh!

We had an extra special ceremony this evening after our time in the fort. We emptied her Diaper Genie for the last time (fingers crossed) and she helped me carry out our last "poop snake" (named by Riley) to the trashcan....

She looks sad here but she was giggling the whole way..guess there's something funny about poo poo

We had a couple of visitors to keep us distracted and entertained on the tail end of our weekend of seclusion. We were thankful that Carmen and Katie came over for some girl time....

This girl is getting to be a big girl as well eating table food!

The two tots watched cartoons on the couch together (with Dora of course).....

While they were here was when Hallie made her big breakthrough. The afternoon had gone wonderfully but I was still having to pick her up and run to get to the bathroom in time. While Katie and I were chatting in the kitchen Hal tapped Katie on the back of her leg to let her know that she needed to go. Instead of just standing there she took off for the bathroom and got on the potty by herself. She had to get up and close the door though to keep the dogs out. Mommy only for potty time. It was just like I'd read in the testimonials....she suddenly "got it." She had it figured out. When you need to pee you hold it in and run to the potty and go. No more leaking or accidents. She made several more trips to the potty while they were at the house and I followed her little booty as she ran as fast as she could. Too cute!

Today was the day I realized that I could give her much more attention than I have been. Yes, we have fun and stay busy on the weekends...but a lot of the time I'm preoccupied while we are playing. I'm focused on so many other things that aren't as important as I think they are. After having spent every waking moment indoors with her I have come to realize that she is even more amazing to me than I had already believed. She was my big champion this weekend and stuck it out with me. I'm proud to report that she had two accidents all day long. TWO. ACCIDENTS. If that isn't magic then I don't know what is. Thank you guru lady. Thank you. It was worth every tear, every pee puddle, every pile of poop, every pair of panties, every towel and every popsicle. Granted these are the results of keeping her secluded at home and only leaving a couple of times. I'm anxious to see what happens when she goes to daycare. My gut is telling me that she will be distracted and confused. I honestly think that this method is perfect for stay at home moms but I'm hoping it will work for us as well. Even if she graduates to pull-ups at daycare and wears her underwear at home only for now I'm okay with that as long as it works best for her. I can't express how proud I am of my big girl. We did a lot of celebrating this weekend and you could see how proud she was of herself. She survived potty boot camp and I'm confident that she will be fully potty trained by her 2nd birthday at the end of the month. Geez, all of this change is getting me emotional. This month is setting up for a whirlwind of big events so I'm glad to have tackled this monster before things get incredibly busy. You know me, I'll be updating on her potty progress as we go along. :)

I'll say it one more time just because I want to......I'M A PROUD MOMMA!!!! Love my big girl.