Pretty much potty trained

A, drinking water at a restaurant in Iowa. We visited that toilet at least twice.

Now I finally understand pull-up diapers. When Z was being potty trained, it was a parent-led affair. We waited until she was 2 1/2, circled a day on the calendar and called it "no more diapers day." We literally gave away Z's diapers and offered her Princess Pull-Ups only at nap and nighttime. There were tears. There were bribes. There wasn't any turning back.

A, on the other hand, started showing some interest in the potty exactly one month ago, a day after she turned 2. We were at Irazu, remember? Since then, she's been going with more and more regularity. No trip to the park or the pool or someone else's house is complete without a "pee-pee in da potty."

Since our trip to Omaha was chock full of OPP (other people's potties), A only wet her diapers at night. And with all those trips in and out of unfamiliar bathroom stalls, and all that undressing and balancing and redressing, I really learned to appreciate the pull-up diaper. Since we've been home, I think it's fair to say that A's potty trained. She can't pull down her own clothes, pull them back up or reach the sink, but she's got pretty darn good control of her toileting.

But here's the rub: I haven't actually put her in big girl underpants yet. I've shown the dorky hand-me-down training pants to her and she always shakes her head no. Doesn't seem interested. And I'm reluctant to push the issue because I'm just not that excited about cleaning up the eventual accident mess. But the day is coming.

Soon.

Midwestern public toilets: here we come!

Our truck in packed with 2 suitcases, 1 pack n play, 1 stroller and some beach towels. To the main cabin, we've added a dozen books, a bag full of My Little Ponies, Happy Meal and Strawberry Shortcake dolls, an iPod full of music, a gajillion snacks and a 2-screen DVD player on loan from friends.

We're hitting the road after lunch. We plan to be in the Quad Cities for dinner and ice cream and Iowa City by bedtime. A should be thrilled. The kid loves using public toilets so much that we may very well hear "I go pee-pee potty!" more than "Are we there yet?"

This is our first road trip with the kids, so pretty please, leave a comment with your best-- or, better yet, worst--road trip memories. I'll have my Blackberry with me in the car, and I promise to read aloud every last word. At least while Josh is driving.

It's potty time

The scene: lunch at Irazu

Our star: a newly minted 2 year old who's used a potty exactly twice in her life, both times this week. For pee.

After shunning a bowl of black beans and rice in favor of downing Josh's oatmeal shake and half of the table's tortilla chips, A touched her bum and announced "I go poo-poos. Potty."

I took her to the bathroom. She touched every possible surface on the toilet, finally balancing her tiny bum on the front toilet seat gap.

And she pooped.

Fellow patrons of the Irazu patio at 12:30 today, you probably knew this already as A returned from the restroom singing "I poo-pooed potty! I poo-pooed in da potty!"

Potty training is on the horizon

Way, way off in the distance. Like seeing the gray silhouette of the Sears Tower from LaGrange. But it's there. This morning I popped A out of her crib and headed to the changing pad for a morning diaper change. She let me take her old--still fairly dry--diaper off, but refused a new one.

"No want diaper! Poo-poo's coming," she said, touching herself on the behind.

"Great, how about you sit on the potty," I replied, flipping open the lid to the potty chair and tossing out the toys stowed inside.

"Noooooo!" she shrieked, and booked her naked butt out of the room. She then tried to close me in her bedroom with a "No, Mommy stay in. Poop's coming!" Big, devilish smile.

I cracked open the door and watched her piss on her feet. I picked her up, midstream, and popped her on the potty. Z was so proud of her sister, "Mommy, Daddy! A peed on the floor and in the potty!" I didn't have the heart to tell her maybe one drop made it in.

Potty training. Just one more reason I'm glad we keep microfiber car-washing rags all over the house. Those puppies can suck up a pee-pee puddle in seconds flat.

Potty training boot camp, day 10

Success! We haven't had an accident since Wednesday and Z happily tells us when she needs to use the potty. She's #1 with number one and will manage number two, albeit with much more trepidation and reluctance. She's peed inside, outside, in our house and at a friend's house. She's used her little floor potty and big toilets with a kiddie seat insert. She hasn't yet managed to go the bathroom while we're out and about, but she's very interested in checking out the toilets at restaurants and grocery stores.

Sometimes she asks for a reward (she's back to preferring candy to nail polish), but most of the time she doesn't. She's even learned the importance of going to the potty before we go somewhere.

Like sleep training and the transition from a crib to a toddler bed, I felt like this was as much of a milestone for us as parents than it was for Z. And, just like those previous milestones, this one doesn't seem like as big a deal/ordeal as it when it was still looming. Sure, the first three or four days were frustrating, but like everything else we've learned, tailoring your approach to your kid's personality helps a lot, but consistency is absolutely key. It's been tempting to put her in a Pull-Up for outings, but we've resisted giving her one for any time but sleepy time. Instead, we started out carrying about lots of underpants and a few changes of clothes. Now the bag formerly known as diaper has a Ziploc bag with a complete change of clothes in it. Which--knock on wood--we haven't needed yet.

Major potty training breakthrough

While Z didn't use the potty at day care yesterday or today, she's tinkled 3 times in the past 2 1/2 hours at home. The trick? Rewards she actually cares about. M&Ms weren't doing it. Cookies weren't doing it. Promises of a trip to the Aquarium weren't doing it.

But nail polish and the opportunity to watch Alice in Wonderland? Now that's some serious motivation. We're painting one toe or finger nail for each successful trip to the potty. OPI's I'm Not Really A Waitress, in case you were curious.

Potty training boot camp, day 3

The bad news is that every morning we start over again. The good news is that after Z's had an accident, she starts volunteering to use the potty.

Here's what I mean:
6:20am: wake up in a damp Pull-Up. No interest in using the potty.
8:30: Starts acting like she needs to go. Occasionally agrees to sit on the potty, but mostly whines and clings to me. Wants to be carried around.
9:30: Really acting like she needs to go. Sits on the potty for 15 minutes, but she's holding it in.
10:00: We leave for a playgroup brunch at Deb's house. Z still hasn't peed or had an accident. I line her carseat with a beach towel and she asks if she can "pee on the blanket." I say no, let's pee at Sammy's house.
10:15: We make it to the brunch without incident, but Z's not acting like herself. Super whiny and clingy with her legs crossed like pretzels.
10:20: Z slides off my lap and pees in her pants. We don't make it to the potty in time.
11:00: Z shouts "potty, potty" and we race toward it, but she slips in her own pee on Deb's kitchen floor. We make it to the potty in time to get a little bit in.
11:30: Z tells me she needs to go to the potty and this time we make it in time. Perhaps 2 drops are in her cotton training pants and the rest goes into the pot. Success!
No successful potty visits or visible accidents (although she is in her swimsuit for an hour) until naptime, when we put her in a Pull-Up.
3:15: She wakes up and tells us her Pull-Up is dry, which it is.

I think we're making progress, but this potty training thing? Not so much fun.

Potty training boot camp, day 2

Let's just say that by 10am this morning I was very tempted to throw in the towel on the whole potty training shebang. But Josh and I had promised each other we'd stick it out this time. We'd said goodbye to diapers and we meant it this time!

Despite being plied with juice and chocolate milk, Z refused to pee (even though it was obvious she needed to) from her 6am wake up until 9:30 in the morning. Tired of listening to her whimper, wail and refuse to sit on the potty without crossing her legs, we loaded the potty into the trunk and headed out to the farmer's market (we couldn't ignore the siren call of charity doughnuts any longer). Z refused to use the potty in the trunk, but as we were halfway home, she said, "Can I change into my Tinkerbell panties when I get home? Because my white underpants are wet." She'd had an accident in her car seat, but at least she wasn't holding it in any longer.

Josh left Z and I in the backyard for some pants-free running around (with her potty nearby) while he ran errands at Trader Joe's. He hadn't been gone 30 minutes before she said, "Diaper, diaper..." and grabbed her crotch. I told her to go ahead and sit on the potty, and she filled it right up! While I was on the phone with a friend, no less.

Then, about 45 minutes after our first success, Z started murmuring "diaper, diaper" again and looking uncomfortable. I guided her to the potty and this time she pooped and peed! Big, big success. She wasn't even interested in reward M&M's or stickers. She just said, "My body feels better now," and asked me if we could save the contents of her potty to show Daddy.

I don't think Josh has ever been so pleased to be faced with a bowl full of excrement.

Today is the day

No more diapers day, that is.

We were off to a pretty good start this morning. Z got a large envelope in the mail from her friend Lia and promptly changed into the Dora underpants Lia sent her. She helped me package up the remaining diapers with wrapping paper and tape. And she sat on her potty...once.

But, as I was getting ready to leave for work she'd started whining, "Diaper, diaper..." Josh gets major props for being the parent in charge of potty training boot camp, day one. I'm anxiously awaiting an update from him.

UPDATE at 12:30pm

After peeing on the kitchen floor and twice watering the lawn, Z peed in the potty of her own accord!

DVD review: Go Potty Go!

If you've got small children, I know what you're thinking. You want to skip to the bottom of this review and find out if the video really worked--if my just-barely 2 1/2-year-old daughter has magically been transformed into a potty champ. Well, I'll save you the agony. She's not.

Yes, she talks the potty talk like nobody's business, but she's all talk, no plop (IYKWIM). So, following my midwife's sage advice, we've put all potty paraphernalia away for the time being. And that includes potty movies.

Fortunately for you, I endured a full month of Go Potty Go! before we decided to take our little bathroom break. Okay, endure might sound a little harsh; I put up with four weeks of insidiously catchy songs about going to the potty and marching in the "big big kids parade!" I suffered the embarrassment of humming these ditties to myself as I hauled my pregnant butt across the office and down the hall to the ladies' room, oh, six to eight times a day.

But my toddler loved watching and re-watching Paige and Parker Panda put on their "big kid underwear" and "go potty, go potty, go potty go!" She learned all the words to the songs and narration, mouthing along through the whole 20 minute DVD. She even brought the movie to daycare, where all the other two and three year olds gave it their own tiny thumbs-up. But best of all, Go Potty Go! is motivational: nearly every time it ended, Z would pull her pants down, unfasten her diaper, and bolt upstairs to get a pair of underpants.

What's most interesting about Go Potty Go!, is that unlike the toilet training classic Once Upon a Potty, it doesn't really delve into the physical mechanics of toileting. There are no money shots of pee and poop, like we get to see both inside and outside (oops!) of Prudence's potty. The focus isn't on recognizing that "feeling in your tummy...like poo-poo is ready to come out" -- rather, Go Potty Go! is chock-full of Up with People-positive peer pressure, musical numbers that reinforce how wonderful it is to be a big kid and "say good-bye to diapers."

At least for now, Z isn't buying it; she'll sleep in a big girl bed and drink out of a big girl glass, but she'll take diapers over big kid underwear, thank you very much. It's one part of babyhood she wants to hold onto a little bit longer. Might have something to do with the upcoming arrival of her baby sister.

See what other parents are saying and enter to win a copy of the DVD at Parent Bloggers Network.

Potty training theories abound

As I've mentioned before, my 29-month-old daughter has total control of her bodily functions and talks the potty talk like nobody's business, but she'll only do her business in a diaper.

Josh and I read Toilet Training in Less than a Day and The Pocket Idiot's Guide to Potty Training Problems, and we agreed that the old-fashioned approach of the former probably wouldn't work for Z since it was largely focused on potty education and avoiding accidents--two issues we don't need to address. The second book pointed out some mistakes we'd been making. It recommends against talking about "being a big girl" and "making Mommy proud," since sometimes kids don't want to grow up so fast--they want to hold onto some of their babyhood. Instead, we let Z pick out a nice new potty chair from Target and gave her lots of opportunities to practice going on it. She taught her teddy bear how to go and spent lots of time pulling her underpants up and down. She wore panties most of the time, only switching to diapers for naps and bedtime and the occasional "I need a diaper" gotta-go-right-now emergency.

But as much as she enjoys showing off her underwear and her potty, we're not seeing any progress in the actual use of the potty. So we asked my midwife (a mother of 5) if she had any insights. Her advice? Tell our daughter that she isn't ready for underwear. Say she's still "a bit of a baby who needs to wear diapers and as such, we're putting all the potties away until she gets bigger." No more taking her special potty to daycare or showing it off to friends and family. She can't have it until she's ready to really use it.

Basically, Hillary recommends a healthy dose of reverse psychology. She says all the hard work is done: Z knows how to sense an urge and control the flow, and she's got the mechanics of flushing and hand-washing done. We just need to wait for her to decide she's ready to pee in the potty and we should be home free.

Anyone want to take bets on how long that'll take?

More on the potty

Said Z last night...

"I need to go potty! I need my privacy. Mommy, you wanna watch?"

And no, she didn't really go. My kid should get an Oscar for Best Performance on a Potty. She sets up. She sits. She waits. She wipes. She flushes and washes her hands. She narrates her every move.

But it's all pretend. I'm picking up my library's copy of the 1974 classic Toilet Training in Less Than a Day this weekend. Maybe they'll have some tips for training a kid who shows every sign of readiness except for the ability to pee with her diaper off.

Potty update!

It was a perfect storm. New Tinkerbell underpants that I picked up at a rummage sale this morning. Add a week's worth of viewings of a new potty movie (which I will be reviewing here in the next couple of weeks) and an afternoon visit with her best friend Lia, who is potty trained. The result? A bona-fide tinkle in the potty chair. Z actually hopped out of the tub during bathtime and said, "I need to go potty."

Sitting on the pot and talking the talk is nothing new. Actual production of pee? Now that's worth blogging about!

Toddler bed update

Z's spent four nights in her new "big girl" bed, and we haven't had any drama. No climbing out of bed. No tantrums. No tears after night one.

But. She still asks for her crib. Every night, as we're finishing up the toothbrushing and story telling, Z looks at me and says, "I don't want to sleep in my big girl bed, Mommy. I don't like it." Yesterday she even pretended to cut the mattress with imaginary scissors and said, "I'm cutting my bed. Let's put it away."

It breaks my heart a little bit, but I've tried to stay gentle and consistent, asking her to lie down on her bed, and soothing her reluctance with a back rub or a tummy tickle. And last night, as I said goodnight and left her room, she said, "Okay. I can tickle my tummy by myself."

It's interesting to see which parts of babyhood children are anxious to shed and which they long to cling to. I think my daughter would have happily slept in a crib for another year or two. And if a baby sister or brother wasn't coming this summer, I surely wouldn't have forced the issue.

Which brings us to toilet training. Still no interest on Z's part. She wants to wear diapers. So I'm not going to push the potty -- at least for a few more months. There's no hurry, and from what I've heard, most girls will tell you when they're ready.

Our first potty training success

To my friends without kids, go ahead and skip this entry. Please.

Tonight, after I'd stripped her clothes off and started running her bath, Z ran up to me holding her crotch shouting "My 'gina, my 'gina!" I asked her what was wrong and she said "Pee's ready to come out." I jumped into action, placing the potty seat on the toilet and offering her a choice between that and her potty chair. She chose the chair, but nothing happened. "I want a diaper," she said, but she agreed to hop in the tub instead.

As soon as her feet hit the warm water, she insisted "I need a diaper," and her body language definitely indicated a major need to go. I popped her back on the potty chair and went into cheerleader mode saying "Pee-pee wants to come out! Pee-pee's ready to come out of your body! I'm so sure you can do it I'm going to run downstairs and grab an M&M for you."

I raced down, and as I was coming back up, taking the steps 2 and 3 at a time, I heard her say, "Mommy, I made water!"

She was thrilled to flush her pee away and call Daddy to share the good news. I'm sure she won't be truly potty trained for a few months at least, but now she knows she can go in the potty instead of a diaper.

Potty training update

Z had been resisting our suggestions to try using the potty, so we decided to give the whole issue a rest for a while. And low and behold, that (or possibly the Mr. Rogers Potty Book from the library) immediately reignited her interest in the subject. For the last two days, she's been asking both of us to take her to the potty and she's been pulling her pants down and helping us unfasten her diaper. She talks the talk and flushes with glee, but no production of numbers one or two. Yet.

Anyway, she amused herself (and me) for about 45 minutes this afternoon pottying her teddy bear. With Z's help, Teddy "used" the potty about 15 times, which was cute enough after I convinced her she could "pretend flush for pretend pee." But what really cracked me up was when she announced that "Teddy had a accident on the floor!" She'd grab a Kleenex and scrub the carpet with it while exclaiming over "Teddy's accident! I wipe up the mess! It's okay, Teddy!"

Doctor says what?

We took Z to see Dr. Hutton last night for her 2 year physical. She passed with flying colors, naturally. She's up to 24.7 pounds, putting her in the 25th percentile for weight and the 10th percentile for height. Dr. Hutton praised her verbal skills and dropped a bombshell on us.

"I think she's ready for potty-training."

The good doctor advised picking a long weekend and putting the girl in cotton training pants (as opposed to the diaper-like Pull-Ups). She recommended feeding her bran muffins so she "can't hold back her stool" and lots of liquids ("Buy twistie straws, fun cups, whatever it takes."). She also said we could plan to spend "a lot of time in the kitchen" and that we should "make a really, really big deal if she can produce a few drops in the potty chair."

I'm thinking Thanksgiving weekend might be a good time to try, but Josh thinks that might be a damper--so to speak--on his parents' visit. I say that, with two doting grandparents in the house--grandparents who also happen to be pediatricians--the timing couldn't be better.

In the meantime, I let Adriana know this morning, and she's promised me Z will be accompanying the almost-3-year-old Lily to the potty all day. Plus, there will be a showing of "the potty video."

I'm also preparing a Target shopping list for Potty Weekend, whenever it should happen. I'm thinking plenty of training pants, a new cup or two, flushable wipes and a bag of M&Ms. If things go well I may have to add a travel potty since we'll have to leave the house eventually.