I had no idea how to potty train and was kind of hopeful day care would do it for me. That wasn't happening and I was worried we were going to miss our window of opportunity so I read one blog and two books and this was how we did it:
Going into this, she had already become familiar with her potty and had peed and pooped on it before so it wasn't brand new for her.
We scheduled 3 days in a row (March 13-15) when we were all going to be home so Chloe would have someone's full attention at all times. We had to be really intentional about this. We scheduled it 3 or 4 weeks in advance and wrote it on the calendar and had to turn down several invitations to keep that weekend free.
I got several new activities and kept them hidden until that weekend. (play-doh, water paint, "fishing," beans, rice, cars, mini bowling set)
Friday morning we got up and had breakfast, then stripped her down and dove in head first.
We tried to keep her at her little table playing as much as possible for 2 reasons: it was close to the bathroom and on hard flooring.
We said "tell mommy/daddy when you need to go pee pee" about a million times.
We pushed fluids to keep her little bladder active.
We celebrated like crazy and gave her candy and a sticker whenever she did go successfully.
If there was an accident, we took her straight to the potty and reminded her where her pee pee goes now that she's a big girl.
We stayed inside, close to the bathroom, all day and didn't have any screen time.
Our plan was to be naked all day, but when she asked for her diaper, we told her she was a big girl now and was going to wear panties. When we told her that, she wanted her panties so we let her start wearing them.
Saturday and Sunday were more of the same thing, but we ventured outside some. When we were outside, there was even more reminding of letting us know when she needed to go and several accidents.
Overall, the first 3 days weren't that bad. The first day was exhausting because we gave so much mental attention to her and what she was doing, but she did really well. I'd say she was 80% potty trained by the end of those first 3 days.
Stephen was really surprised how often she peed those first 3 days. haha
Once we went to no daytime diapers, we didn't turn back. She wore panties all the time except when she was sleeping.
She was much more interested in candy than stickers. By day 3, she could care less about getting a sticker. By about half way through week 2, she was turning candy down and still being successful. It's all about what motivates them.
Playing outside was the hardest to master and the most common place we had accidents even into weeks 2 and 3.
Poop was never an issue. She didn't poop on day 1, but after that would go in the potty. We did have a couple of poop accidents while playing outside, but by week 3, those seemed to stop. From the beginning she would tell us to "go away" when she was pooping.
The COVID-19 quarantine definitely helped with this as we haven't left home with her in 5 weeks. She has ridden in the car some and we've been to the park twice. I took her potty with us both times and made her pee as soon as we got to the car. Other than that, we've been at home.
March 23 (10 days in) she started consistently self initiating and going without having to be told.
She did have a few accidents in the bathroom when she couldn't get her pants down quick enough.
March 29 (16 days in) she told Stephen she needed to pee at Jessica's house and made it around the house to tell me and let me take her inside to pee...then peed in her pants the next day. You win some. You lose some.
By week 3, she was able to stop playing and go to the bathroom. Even if she was downstairs by herself, she'd stop what she was doing and come upstairs to potty.
April 9 (almost a month in) she told our neighbor Bri she needed to pee. They were at Jessica's house and I hadn't made it down there yet. She isn't as comfortable with Bri as she is Jessica, but she let Bri take her in Jessica's house to pee. I thought that was a huge win!
She's spent a lot of the past month naked and has enjoyed it.
Update: A little over a month in, we had a couple of days full of accidents. Several times she would look at me as she peed so it wasn't like I was too far away or she couldn't make it; she just chose to pee in her pants. We figured out she had been watching the neighbors, who are boys, pee outside. So she thought she could too. As we worked on that and convinced her she could go back outside after she peed, that got better. I think she also thought if she went in to pee that we wouldn't go back outside and play.
2 months in and things are much more consistent. She even cried when outside because she had to pee so bad. She made it to the potty! If we're out walking and she has to pee, we let her squat and pee outside. She loves that, but has learned she has to tell us so we can help her; she can't just pee.
Candy over stickers = that's my girl :-)
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