Into the land of Potty Training...

 Another milestone...I have been dreading it but wanting to do it just to be done and have one kiddo out of diapers.  Jade has been showing the signs of readiness for a while now, but with having another baby so close to when she turned 2 and then working last year and having no time--let's just say I put it off.  But this summer, we had some time and Jade was ready, so off we set into the land of potty training! I read about 4 books on the topic, got some pull-ups and real underwear ready to go and jumped in with both feet.  Look how happy Jade looks sitting on the big potty--of course--look who is sitting on her little potty?!!

We started out with pull-ups during the day and when she went pee she got 1 m&m and poop she got 2 m&m's.  She did okay with this if I reminded her all day to go to the bathroom.  I don't think I was fully ready for this process at this point.  She got the idea that these pull-ups were different than her diaper, but it did not register to her that she had to go in the potty all the time, it was more like a game or fun thing to do when she felt like.  So after getting very frustrated because she would tell me she went pee/poo after it happened in her pull-up, I just about gave up.  In fact there was a while there I was content just to change her pull-up and not fight her to use the potty.  On our St. George trip, she had an accident on the floor at our condo--and it was the last thing I could deal with that day--I got a little mad with her.  So after we got her and the floor all cleaned up, she immediately went and told Grandma and everyone else in the room that "Mama, is an angry bird!"  It was all I could do to hold my laughter inside! 

I decided at that point I needed to just lock myself in the kitchen and outside for a few days and put her in just underwear until she realized how to go in the potty.  Well....we started on a Monday morning by having Jade pick out her big girl underwear, she of course chose Tangled and Princess ones.

So after loading her up with juice and salt snacks all day...

and getting a popsicle or another treat for each time she went to the potty...

Kiera really enjoyed this treat too!!!  Isn't it great being a younger sibling, you reap all the benefits of what the older one is doing!

 

We finally had success at filling up one whole potty chart with stickers.  She got one sticker for pee and two for poop. I was super excited and positive with her all day and she was having so much fun drinking all the juice she wanted and getting stickers and treats.  

Our first day was such a success, I was motivated to go on to the next...so we sat in the kitchen all day. I brought her play kitchen and dollhouse into the kitchen with us too.

Day 2 was not as lucky as day 1, Jade had 6 accidents in a 3 hour period.  I was getting frustrated and tired of wiping up the kitchen floor so we headed outside to read some books. After a few more accidents outside, she finally started going in her potty more and really got the hang of telling me before she had to go.

By the end of the week, Jade was doing fantastic!  She could tell me before she had to go and made it to the potty. She was down to one or less accidents per day and she was filling up her sticker charts fast!  Each time she filled up a chart, she got a Barbie movie--her current favorite!  I was so proud of her because we went shopping all day with my Mom on Friday--just 4 days after starting this process--and she only had one accident at Costco! But she asked to go to the bathroom 6-7 times at each store we went to--sometimes she went and sometimes not--but at least she was going!  

She has now earned 3 Barbie movies and is working on her last chart to get the final movie.  She even wakes up dry at night and sometimes in the middle of the night will scream until we come and take her potty!  I was not planning to tackle that night training hurdle yet, but she will not pee in her pull-up at night.  I think we are going to have a big party to celebrate her being potty trained!! YEAH!!! Only one kiddo in diapers again--hopefully Kiera will follow Jade's example and potty train herself--ha ha!