mission almost complete

The last few weeks I haven't been as busy as it seems that I usually am.
Not many places to go or people to see or work to do.

SO, I decided it would be a great week or so to see if Taylor could master potty training.

I hadn't really ever tried or pushed before...she would sometimes use the toilet and sometimes not.

So we went straight to panties to see how she'd do...no pull ups (although we've used them more for FUN and ease over the last month from time to time), just straight from diaper to panties. KNOWING it would take a few accidents to make her realize how uncomfortable she'd be.

She has been a potty-training ROCKSTAR!!!


She has not really had to be bribed or pushed or anything. I've given some rewards just for fun and encouragment, but she has pretty much trained herself, other than the handful of reminders I give her throughout the day.

I have watched her come inside from playing ALL on her own and go straight to the toilet, she has gotten out of bed in the mornings and gone straight to the toilet and is now at the point that she is making it there 9 out of 10 times (I made that stat up) without an accident.

I was scared that the #2 training would be our battle....but after one accident and...

"mommy, I nee you change my diapa"

and my response of

"ok, honey, wait one minute....OH WAIT!!! You don't have a diaper on...OH NO!!"

She has used the toilet every other time!

And of course, right in the middle of this time when I thought we really had no where to go or things to do, we decided to take that unexpected trip to Branson to see my folks. I was worried we'd regress on the potty training...but instead, I think she got better!

Although she did wear a pull-up in the car, I still wanted to be able to stop if she said she needed to go. I figured my response of "oh, just go in your pull-up" would not be so good for all that we worked on during the week. So Dave was warned and prepared...if she said she needed to go, we'd stop on the road....and we did.

(Don't you think she'll just love this picture for her senior graduation or wedding video?)

YES, the potty chair went with us!!! I think that's why she got better...she was proud to show Papa and Mima what she could do! It was new and exciting for her and just what we needed to really seal the deal that she's almost officially trained!

It all ended up being much easier than I expected....especially after reading about and hearing stories from other friends that included fighting, carpet cleaning, furniture cleaning, bribing, bribing and more bribing and lots of tears.

Our Dr. suggested waiting till spring, when it's warmer and she could be in little to no clothes. I just used that as an excuse for putting it off. But really, I ended up liking it. She was able to wear her cotton, elastic-waist shorts, almost everyday...very easy for her to pull off and on herself (as oppossed to jeans). Which also means less clothing to deal with when wet. It's also been nice enough that she can just run around in her panties too. But I think the best thing is that we were able to be outside LOTS of the time. So 99% of the accidents happened out there....YAY!!! So, my advice...potty train them when you can stick them outside all day....save the carpet and furniture. Strip their clothes and the door and run to the bathroom.


Now let's just hope I haven't spoke too soon, and we are really on our way to making it official

AND

let's hope Mr. Mason is this easy (why does something tell me not to bank on that?).