Potty Training: Days 3-6

 

Today is officially day six of potty training, and I am one super happy mom!

In summary, things around here are going really, really well. We’ve come a long way since Doomsday last Wednesday (day one) where we both spent the entire day locked in the basement crying over pee and poop and eating Oatmeal Cream Pies. #hotmess

In case you missed my recap of days one and two, you can find it to read all about our shenanigans here.

Day three: Hadley woke up dry and ran straight to the potty (which is still, might I add, in the living room). All day long I walked her to the potty on the hour every hour and she went immediately. She absolutely loves the reward of flushing what she “produces”. We did a lot of clapping and cheering on Friday! She had a #2 accident when we went down to the basement for five minutes away from her potty. That was my mistake! I still kept panties and pants off of her on this day.

Day four: BIG DAY! After she successfully went to the potty all morning we decided to have our first diaperless outing to Target (my happy place). talked about how the first few outings you should go on should be no more than an hour-long, and how the child should only wear pants – no underwear (and she has very good reasons why). So this is exactly what we did! She went to the bathroom right before we left and as soon as we got home. Later that night, about 36 hours after her last #2, she finally went on her potty after a lot of coaching.

Day five: I’d decided earlier in the week that attending church would be out the window, but since she was doing so well, we decided to go. I put new Frozen panties on her that she’d picked out the day before along with stretchy black pants. She went to the bathroom right before we left, and I hoped that she could hold it an hour until church was over and I could bring her to the bathroom. She did end up having an accident, but accidents happen and her church nursery teacher knew she was potty training. I’m not sure if she had the accident because she was wearing panties and thought she could go in them or because she was away from me and wasn’t sure what to do. She did succeed with going on the public toilet at church though right after the service, so that was another big milestone. She continued having success all day.

Day six: When she is naked running around the house, she doesn’t need me to bring her to the bathroom; She is confident enough to go on her own. To go #2 she’s been doing a dance and yelling “POOP!” and then needs me to go with her while she does her biz. She did have one pee accident this morning while she was wearing panties because she couldn’t figure out how to pull them down and she didn’t tell me she had to go. Something to work on.

I don’t know how long it usually takes to potty train a kid – surely some people have done it much faster than we have – but I am totally thrilled at how the last six days have gone. This has been one of the most rewarding stages of parenting for me so far. I thought I would dislike being “locked up” in the house for several days with just my two-year old, but I’ve actually really enjoyed the quiet time with her; we needed it. Watching her go from a total disaster and clueless last Wednesday to nearly fully potty trained seven days later is also incredibly gratifying.

Don’t get me wrong: The first day was even worse than I imagined it being, but having that one hard day seemed necessary to get to where we’re at now.

Overall, I’ve really enjoyed being her teacher and watching her connect the dots.

I could write a list of potty training tips, but every single one of them (plus five thousand more) are in . It answered so many hard questions, was a humorous read, and gave me much-needed confidence that even the hard days and accidents were all purposeful and “on plan”. It has tips for both SAH parents & working parents. Can’t recommend it enough!

Updated: Click here to read about how the second (and final) week went.

Let’s chat!

Any specific questions you have for me? Any funny stories from potty training your own kids?!