Potty Training

Beanie began formal potty training this week.

I have had two small kiddie potties in the house for a long time and she has had the opportunity to sit on them fully clothed, make her toys sit on them and understand what they are for. My Mom and I would have her sit on it on occasion to do her business (with diaper) and she was quite interested in it.

About 4-5 weeks ago, by chance, I encouraged her to sit on the potty before bath, and noticed she would pee. Soon it became a routine. She has been doing very well with it.

Last weekend I got her pull-ups (what she calls "panties") to wear while we were home on weekends and she really liked the idea. In fact she even went to the potty after waking from her naps. So I emailed her teacher on Monday, telling that I was now "formally" (as in more consistently) beginning potty training and if they could too.

Her teacher was really excited to hear about about Beanie' progress and said they usually only begin at school if its being done at home - so the timing is perfect.  When I picked her up this past Monday she excitedly told me "I am potty training".....awww!!!

She is apparently doing really well in school - just in the past week. Oddly, the whole potty training thing is making her excited about going to school, which is nice!

At home she has on several occasions gone Number2 in it too.  Today at one point she said "potty is coming" and ran upstairs and sat on the potty. She gave herself plenty of time to get to the potty, which was quite surprising to me since I fully expected she would have done it in her pull up by the time she got up there.  I do have a potty downstairs but she for some reason went up.  Its cute because after she is done she covers it with toilet paper.  What a little lady! :-)


I am taking it really cool with the potty training, making it fun and letting her lead the way.  I know it will get done eventually. There is no rush, she is not yet 2 1/2, so I know we have time to do this.  Seems like 3 years is the goal.

Next step is to get in the habit of using the potty before we leave the house. But that would require pull-ups since a diaper is a pain to take on/off.

I have a big box (or 2?) of diapers that I need to use up first....but looks like we will be in pulls ups soon. The school is okay with it!

 The teacher did say that they suggest stopping the bottles when potty training begins. Not sure if there is any factual claim to it or its anecdotal.

Beanie does drink her morning and night milk in a bottle. She is perfectly capable of drinking in an open cup, but prefers the bottle. I had made some progress to get her to use a sippy cup in the mornings, but months back she was sick and I wanted her to stay hydrated so we slipped back into the bottle. Also, given the meltdown we have had about going to school I did not want to add to the drama with the whole "no bottle, only sippy cup" conversation. She is not totally proficient with a straw, but can use it, so I may have her try milk in a straw cup as something special for the morning milk. Night milk bottle is fine for now. One step at a time.

And don't even get me started on the binky.

That is another battle to be fought, but she is getting better about not having it in her mouth constantly. She does not use it in school (thank goodness). She does like it in the car but we now leave it in the car when we go someplace, e.g. park or store.  At home she will like to have it constantly if she can, s but I usually take it away at some point and then she forgets about it.  She does need two (!) to sleep, one in her mouth and one in her hand.  We are down to the last 3 binkies, and I told her I am not buying a pacifier for a 2+ year old...so once these break its done!

The one thing I have learned is that everything happens in its own time.

In Jan, I was stressing about Beanie still waking up at night for milk.  I cannot remember when she stopped, but she did all by herself without me having to do anything drastic.   Same with sleeping though the night...it just happened on its own when she got to about 2 years old without any sleep training etc.

So best is to let nature and the child lead the way.....