Big changes for a big girl

OK, so I've been dying to post this, but haven't had the time! Josie has a big announcement..... she is potty trained!!!!!! Yes, that's right, we got it done.

We finally had a weekend where both of us were home without visitors, so the weekend of the 18th, Nick and I set our sights on diaper free days (well for Josie of course).

She had soccer on Saturday morning ( pics to follow) so when she got home around 10:30, we started right away. I told her the night before that her diapers were going away and she was going to have to go potty in the toilet. She said no of course, but that's her answer to everything these days.

Molly gave me instructions to a potty training boot camp she used with Caroline. It tells you how to train your child in 3 days...I thought that was a little presumptuous, but we gave it a whirl anyway. I think one of the biggest things I took away from the training was telling Josie, "tell me when you have to go potty" instead of saying "do you have to go potty". That way she learns to recognize the signals her body is giving her.

To say we were frustrated the first day is an understatement. She was peeing evvvvvvvvvvverywhere. Granted we were pumping her full of liquids so she would go more often, but she was literally peeing every 20 minutes. By the end of the first night, she went poop and pee in the toilet one time- success. We are putting her in a pull up at night, because she can't hold it that long, and let me tell you, she wont wake up if she wets the bed. I can't have her lying in it all night and ruining the mattress.

The next morning we started out by putting her on the toilet, so she knows what her new routine will be. We went downstairs for breakfast and keep telling her, "tell me when you  have to go potty". Well she started day 2 with a big dump in her pants. Thankfully she has only had one other accident like that, but a good lesson. Day 2 didn't seem to be much better and I was texting Molly since I was at my wits end. She assured me that it does in fact get better, and it will click.

She did fairly well the second day, had some success's and lots of accidents. The final accident of the night was when she peed all over the couch. It sucked, but we couldn't get mad at her, she was learning after all. So Nick and I went to bed that night feeling a little deflated and like maybe we tried too soon.

BUT, girlfriend woke up the next morning, ready to go and didn't have a single accident for the next few days! I kept her at home until Wednesday so we could get a few extra days of good training in before I sent her back to Jen. Her reward for going potty were cookies and stickers. Thankfully she LOVES Nilla Wafers, so that's what she chowed down on, and she is still loving all her stickers.

She did have 2 accidents the first day back with Jen, and freaked out because her potty is different than ours, but ever since the first week, she is doing so well, always telling Jen when she has to go     (even if she does false alarm us 5 times in a row). At least she is listening to her body and paying attention.

She is still so proud of herself every time she goes, and yells "I go on the toilet!!" I was a little worried with the baptism last weekend and being away from home. Nick and I decided not to put a pull up on her, because we have told her those are her special "night, night panties" and didn't want to confuse her. So I packed an extra outfit just in case and hoped for the best. As we were walking to church (late of course) she told me she had to go, so we raced in and went potty. She was such a good girl in church- paying attention and not making too much noise. She didn't ask to go at all until the very end, and she told Grandma so she didn't have an accident. 

Nick and I are so proud of our girl- we knew she was ready to ditch the diapers, just needed to put in a few hardcore days and she hasn't looked back since!