The Potty

It was a long time coming but finally I can say we are almost 100% potty trained!  I wanted to wait to potty train my 3 year old until she was really ready for two reasons: one, you really can't successfully force a child to do anything and have their full cooperation (if anyone else has and has step by step instruction, please let me know), two, not that I am lazy but who really wants to consistently clean up puddles of pee or wash poopy undies?  Be honest... no one does, especially not when balancing a baby in your arms. 

So a few weeks ago I bought a "potty chart".  I found a store that sells teacher aids for the classroom.  I had tried giving rewards previously while keeping the pull ups on.  I told her if she used the potty she would get a candy or some treat of the day and it worked for a couple times but she was just not motivated and that was just to pee on the potty!  It was a whole other story trying to get her to poop.  In order to get her to do her business on the potty and not in her diaper, I had to promise Subway or McDonald's or something big!  This girl is too smart for her own good, potty training was going to cost mommy some big $$$ by the end.  I decided enough was enough and now just had to figure out what would she like more than anything else?  Then I found the fish bowl.

The fish bowl is a big poster fish bowl that comes with all colours of the rainbow fish that you could imagine.  There were over 100!  This was perfect.  Every time she pees in the potty she will get to stick a fish in the bowl.  My daughter is crazy over fish so I knew this would work.  I then decided she needed something that would also help her want to do her #2 in the potty too.  NEMO!! When I said she was crazy over fish, she is even more crazy over NEMO.  I found a package of fish that look like Marlin, Nemo, Dorey, Gill and Bubbles.  PERFECT!

I brought it home and instantly my little pee pants became a big girl and started pottying.  She was already somewhat using it at daycare but now we were full fledged pottiers!!  She couldn't be more happy to get a fish and put it in the bowl.  She was a little weary of pooping at first ( I think that I scared her when she was two and started to try out the potty.  I kind of got super excited and might have screamed a little or squealed... you know you've all been there the first time you don't have to clean off a poopy bum!) but once she did it a few times she had no more issues.  Now, she would go a few days sometimes without going at all but eventually she started doing it and each time saying to whoever was around, "my mommy be so proud of me!"  And she's right...

...Mommy is so proud of her!

Next on the list is getting her out of pull ups at night time.  She is pretty close but some how, no matter how many times she pottys before bed, she still pees over night.  Oh well... Wish me luck!