How Q Potty Trained Herself

I realize that my last post about potty training makes it seem like it was a breeze getting Q out of diapers. Ha! So not true. The experience reinforced a lot about what we have come to expect about life with Q: she does something when she is ready, not when we are. Examples: sleeps in her crib or goes to bed by herself or weans (she's now in a Big Girl bed by the way).

This is how it went down and it covers almost an 11 month period -

Q sorta, sometimes used the potty. Q did not like us suggesting it. Q began to fight it. We moved. We gave up on potty training. We decided that we would be traveling for 2 weeks and we would wait until we got back. We got back. Q refused refused refused. We offer sticker charts, prizes, m&m's, picking out her own big girl underwear, the fact that you need to be in underwear to take ballet. Q asks for a suitcase if she uses the potty. We agree. She uses the potty, is given the suitcase, reverts to accidents. Suitcase is take away. Q doesn't care. By this point, I am extremely pregnant with Z. I am informed either get Q trained before the baby comes as otherwise it will never happen OR even if I train her now, she'll regress after the baby is born and it won't matter. Lovely.

I choose to do nothing. As I tell some friends, I'm taking a laid-back (or half-assed) attitude towards potty training. Q is almost 3. She knows where the potty is. She has the basic idea.  Then, one day, a month before her 3rd birthday, Q asks to wear underwear. She begins to use the potty. There are some slip ups, but, by and large, Q is fully out of diapers ... and has her suitcase back.

Q's Suitcase

Potty Training Successes!

I have been slowly trying to potty train Q for a while. I think we bought her an elmo potty in April? Q has always come into the bathroom with me (oh joy), so that wasn't anything to add.  I would suggest she would sit on the potty fully-clothed and sometimes she would, sometimes she wouldn't.

I had decided back when we bought the potty that we would try anything serious until July and, well, here we are. First, I tried the no diaper method. Q had a few accidents and refused to sit on the potty for more than .2 seconds.  She has a bladder of steel and started holding it for up to 3 hours since she seemed dismayed by the accidents, but didn't want to sit on the potty.

About two weeks ago, Q was on her potty and tried to get off while asking for a "pillow." I said, "Do you want a pillow on your potty? Is it too hard?" She said yes, I folded a towel in a horse-shoe shape, and she sat ... and sat ... and sat. She was very happy. We would read and color and watch some tv. She would sit for 20 minutes at a time with nary a complaint nor wiggle. But no pee.

(Q puts her doll on her potty. We're all about comfort in this family.)

I bought her some undies over the weekend. Some thick gerber ones, vinyl covers, and some Minnie Mouse ones. She wore the Minnie undies for a few hours yesterday, but nothing.

Today, my parents - who were visiting for the past week - left and Q and I decided to be lazy.  I asked her if she wanted to wear underwear, she agreed, we put it on and I waited. I waited until she would give unhappy grunts and get fussy. I started to realize she was probably getting the urge to pee, but holding it in. Each time, I would sit her down and she went three times!

I covered her with stickers.

(It is cool to wear stickers on your back.)

Unfortunately, she refused to wear a diaper to nap. I put a vinyl cover on her. Let's hope for the best.

Oh, and don't worry, I know it isn't over, but we like to celebrate every step of the way. Makes the journey more enjoyable ;)