Kate's Potty Party

Warning: The following post is filled with potty talk (REAL potty talk) and is a play by play of the day for my records. If you aren't interested, skip to the pics!

The journey began last summer when I decided I would potty train 2 1/2 year old Kate. She had always passed milestones with out a lot of problems so imagine my surprise when the first morning we tried, she loudly proclaimed, "I no potty Mommy!!" and then proceeded to use our carpet and tile as her personal port o potty. The whole time we tried she did not pee in the potty once! Shortly after this attempt I went  back to work and obviously I put it off.... ALOT! I decided that this was our week end. A good long week end. 3 days to be exact. Here was my plan (and there are a lot of plans out there.Just ask ANY Mom and they will give you their personal philosophy on potty training) Ok back to my plan. It was simple. Watch Kate like a hawk, stick to her like glue, and when she started to pee run her to the bathroom. The whole morning this was our routine. She would be standing/sitting there and I would hear "Uh oh!" And then look to see pee running down her leg and then I would pick her up and book it to the bathroom where she would (amazingly) finish in the potty. I was so happy that she was actually finishing in the potty. I was so happy that I was actually hearing the sound of tinkling in the potty. A sound I had never heard before from this little girl. I went crazy the first time and she gave me a look of fright so I toned it down a little. My resolve was weakened a little when she finished on the potty and looked up at me and said, "I want my diaper." But I pushed on.  Then I had her pick out a sticker to put on her potty chart. She was as pleased as punch about the stickers and was quite upset when she realized that she had to pee in the potty to get a sticker. Yes I am talking fit. :) The next bridge was crossed when I asked her if she needed to go potty and she said yes and then actually went on the potty. You can imagine how excited I was by this!! I couldn't hold it back and I could tell it was clicking because she smiled and kind of ducked her head all shy like. She knew she was doing something amazing. She said, "I pee pee in the potty and not my panties!" Bingo!!!! Then the most wonderful bridge was crossed when I was sitting there folding laundry and she suddenly gets up and says, "I go pee pee Mommy." I took her hand and we rushed to the potty with her saying "Hurry!" and "Get out of the way!" even though there was no one in her way. And....... my girl!!!! The second she sat down I heard that wonderful tinkling noise and I was jubilant and my overabundance of excitement for her was not lost on her this time. She got it. For the rest of the afternoon and in to the early evening it was the same routine. She would announce it, walk/run to the potty, and then proudly do her business. I was so proud. And of course I documented it in pictures.:)

I made this potty chart 5 minutes before she woke up. Look at all those stickers. We were busy today! I orginally had it divided up into pee pee and poopy and then had to laugh because I had about 20 spaces for poopy. What was I thinking?!!? Thankfully we didn't use 20 spaces.Now that would have been a deal breaker. We didn't even use 1 of the poopy spaces. She just started placing the stickers anywhere.  

Normally I complain about the dry hot days in Texas, but not today! It was perfect for drying panties fast!.:)

I know this falls under the category of "someday she will kill me for this" but I am so glad I took this picture. This is the first time that it really clicked with her as to what she was doing. See that smile?? Pure pride baby!

The stickers were her reward today and it was all she needed.

Counting the stickers. She really loved picking out the stickers after every success but the last time she pottied today she didn't seem to care about getting a sticker. Progress???

The Elmo panties. We have 7 more pairs.;)

I never realized how much attention I would have to give Kate. I felt like Carson was kind of left out today. But don't worry, he survived and added a lot of comic relief. Bless his heart.

I think Carson is none too happy about Kate joining him on his "show ottoman" where he was in the middle of putting on an impressive gymnastics routine. He is saying, "Man Kate. You've got that potty thing going on today AND you're stealing my thunder on my ottoman??"

But the show must go on. So the gymnastics continued.

He takes a break to wrestle with Kate.

Back at it. His most impressive move of the day.

After one of our potty sessions Kate and I emerged from the bathroom to find this. Carson had turned his shirt into a strapless little number. (Don't look Mimi!! The neck on this shirt was WAY strecthed out!)

Ok so sue me! We did a lot of this today. (Watching TV if you can't tell.) But it worked because I could keep a very close eye on Kate all day. And no they don't always watch TV that way. I just thought it was funny they were in the same pose.

The potty dance! We danced a lot today and I loved it. Who could resist their little girl saying, "Mommy dance with me!!!" Not I!!