Adventures in Parenting - Lazy Parent Potty Training

I have to admit that I was dreading potty training. Diapers were not that bad and they fit well in our life. Need to make a car trip, make check for a dry diaper and strap E in. Going on vacation, pack some diapers, a few wipes and you are on your way. I didn't have to always know the location of the nearest bathroom or stopping at a weird store to find a potty.

The potty seat has been around our house for a while and E would use it from time to time, but it was mostly a toy. (We went with the ring for the big potty because I didn't want to deal with disposal.) I knew we would need to potty train E, but I kept putting it off. 

Shortly after we got back from our cruise, E's daycare asked about potty training. It was kind of the perfect storm (in a good way). She had been asking about wearing princess underwear, she would be moving classrooms shortly and most of her friends were already wearing underwear.

I took a look at some of the 3-day methods, but in reality, we didn't have 3-days. A number of preexisting commitments, my husband starting a new job and some other things made a 3-day approach impossible. So we took the lazy parent approach.

After getting home from the Lady Track Shack 5k, we gave E a "present" of princess panties. She was super excited about this. We also set up our bathroom with her potty seat and a stool to help her get on the potty. 

Now E has her own bathroom.
We keep this one set up for her.

 Then the real fun began. Most of the first day was spent taking E to the bathroom after she started peeing and then cleaning up the mess. We went through a lot of panties and junk towels that day. (I don't think she made it to the potty once.) 

By the end of the first day, everyone was stressed. E was asking for diapers, I was exhausted and very temped to say forget it.

Shortly into day two, things began to click. She started to make it to the bathroom and we were even able to get her to poop in the potty (that was probably just luck). There were still accidents and I was a mess. (I think it was a combination of being trapped in the house and my baby growing up.)

Bourbon, because potty training.

Nap time day two was a real test. As I mentioned in my post about giving up the pacifier, E no longer naps for us, this meant putting her in the car in underwear. Luckily, she fell asleep and didn't have an accident in the car seat. Overall, we were probably about 60% for that day.

Monday rolled around and we sent a ton of clothes with her to daycare. (They were so helpful with the whole potty thing.) We also told E we would have pizza for dinner the first day she didn't have an accident at school. (She isn't big on "kid food," but she loves pizza.) Surprisingly, she went the whole day without a potty accident. (Even with scraping her face pretty bad)

I have to say that potty training has gone much better than getting rid of her pacifier. We have had a few accidents here and there, but they are getting less and less frequent. Luckily, most of them have been at home, except for that one time at Ron Jon.

Nighttime is still a challenge, partly mostly because she refuses to go potty before bed, so we are still using pull ups over night. But for right now, I'll take it.