Our whirlwind weekend of potty training is officially over! Today was the best day of the three, as expected. We still had problems getting her to sleep at bedtime tonight, but naptime was a piece of cake. Here’s how it all played out today:
4:10 a.m. – Accident in panties and the bed. Then potty in the chair. She was asleep again by 4:30 a.m. Whew!
8:00 a.m. – Woke up dry. Potty in the chair.
9:00 a.m. – Accident in panties and on the bedroom floor. Nothing in the chair.
10:00 a.m. – Big poop in the potty chair. She asked to go to the bathroom beforehand.
11:20 a.m. – Dry panties. Potty in the chair.
12:50 p.m. – Dry panties. Potty in the chair.
2:40 p.m. – Woke up dry after a 90-minute nap. Nothing in the chair.
2:50 p.m. – Dry panties. Potty in the chair.
3:05 p.m. – Dry panties. Potty in the chair.
4:00 p.m. – Dry panties. Potty in the chair.
5:20 p.m. – Dry panties. Potty in the chair.
5:45 p.m. – Dry panties. Potty in the chair.
6:15 p.m. – Dry panties. Potty in the chair.
6:40 p.m. – Dry panties. Potty in the chair.
6:55 p.m. – Dry panties. Potty in the chair.
7:15 p.m. – Dry panties. Potty in the chair. This was just before we put her down for bed.
7:40 p.m. – Small accident in panties and her bed. Potty in the chair.
8:00 p.m. – Dry panties. Potty in the chair.
8:15 p.m. – Dry panties. Potty in the chair.
8:30 p.m. – Dry panties. Potty in the chair.
8:45 p.m. – She finally fell asleep.
Do you see a pattern today? :o) Avery did a great job staying dry and telling us when she had to go to the bathroom. Even when she had some false alarms, she would get to the bathroom then say, “Avery fine.” I think she was expecting something to happen, but she wasn’t sure when. After a few “Avery fine”s, she would finally go potty.
And here’s the underwear tally for the weekend:
Friday – 21
Saturday – 9
Sunday – 3
Now…about the bedtime situation. We know she needs to empty her bladder as much as she can before bedtime. And we’ve noticed that she needs 30 or 45 minutes and four or five trips to the bathroom to do this. So we may try to delay her bedtime by about 30 minutes until she can empty herself more completely in less trips to the bathroom. Don’t tell her that she’s going to stay up a little later or she might take advantage of it!
Looking back, this may have been the most difficult thing we’ve had to do as parents so far. (I know…God blessed us with an easy child and an easy beginning to parenthood!) But it was worth it. We still haven’t ventured out to the real world or our normal schedule (we’ll try that this week), but I think she’ll adjust to that pretty easily.
We highly recommend the Three-Day Potty Training method. It may not be right for every family, but it worked for us. If you decide to try this method, I really suggest that your spouse join you on the experience if possible. I know neither Chris nor I could have done this whole weekend alone, even though the method’s author says it’s possible. There were times that Avery needed both of us, and there were times when one of us needed to step away for a little break from all of the stress. We couldn’t have maintained our sanity without each other. I guess that’s what marriage is all about!
I’m glad Chris and I got to share this adventure with Avery together. Typically, I get to enjoy a lot of Avery’s small milestones by myself since I’m with her more often during the weekdays than Chris is. But I’m glad he was able to experience the highs and lows of potty training with me. He was such a great cheerleader for Avery and a great teammate for me.
So what’s the next major milestone? A “big girl” bed? Kindergarten? Prom? I can wait a few years for that!