Potty Time



Since I did not have any appointments today, I decided it was a good day to try to hit the potty training again. I had Ava sit on the potty right when I got her up. She understands all the ins and outs of the business, but has been particularly resistant to actually doing it. After about twenty minutes, I put her in a dress with her new "big girl" undies, and reminded her that she needed to keep them dry. Taylor and Liv each sat down and talked to her about all the cool things "big" kids get, and what it feels like to have to go. I poured some chocolate chips in a bowl to use as incentive and put up a new sticker chart. She got stickers for sitting on the potty, and chocolate chips for going... so was the plan anyway.

I had her sit on the potty right after she finished her breakfast and provided her with a big bottle of juice. We read a story with Elmo about the potty on the iPad, and put together a potty time Elmo puzzle. But she did not go. I reminded her again about keeping her undies dry, and she ran off to play with Taylor and Liv. I set a timer for twenty minutes, and she sat on the potty again. After Taylor and Liv used the potty, they got to have a chocolate chip, so she could see how it worked. This was very motivating, and for the first time she seemed a little interested in going. But she did not go. Again I pulled up her undies, reminded her about keeping dry and letting me know when she had to go. I set the timer.
When it went off, I could not find her. She had gone downstairs to play with the big kids and I didn't see her go. I called for her, and when she came she had a full load of poo. Darn. We put it down the toilet and talked about what she should have done. Since her undies were not wet, just dirty, I had her sit on the potty again. By this time I knew she had some urine in there. She still didn't go, so I put on some new undies and did the whole routine again.
Eventually it got to be lunch time, and she still had not gone. So I knew that she really should have had a full bladder (plus I had been pushing the juice). So I had her sit on the potty for a long time before lunch, every five minutes she would say, "I did it" or "I'm done!". So we would have her stand up and see that there was nothing in it. Finally after about a half hour she did have the tiniest little tinkle. So again, I knew she had to go, but she refused to go. I had her sit for about fifteen minutes more, then I made lunch. After lunch, right back to the potty. She no more than sat down and I heard it. She starts screaming, "I go, I go!!!" and she was!
I was so excited. We jumped up and down and sang. I gave her a whole handful of chocolate chips. She got a call from Rachel her friend from Signing Time, and got three stickers. I had her sit again and asked her to make sure to let it all out, but as it would turn out, she would tinkle a little in her undies. Still, I think it was a huge breakthrough in potty training for us. Maybe we can start to make some real progress from here!!!