Kinzie's Potty Trained!

Kinzie had been showing "ready signs" since about Novemberish, but I didn't want to deal with potty training  during the holidays, so I just kept putting it off. For Christmas, we bought her this Hippo Potty Chair (lame present, right? HA. She didn't think so!) She loved it. She would sit on it all the time with her diaper and pants on. It came with a book and has audio buttons (the hippo reads the book to you and the lion says "hip, hip hooray"). She loved to sit on it and read the book/push buttons or when watching a movie.

 Then we took her to Walmart and let her pick out some cute undies--of course she picked out Minnie Mouse! She was so excited to get home and open them and try them on over her pants--over and over and over:)

Mommy also bought her a package of undies...not as cute, but much cheaper:)

 I had heard horror potty training stories, so I was dreading this process and put it off as long as I could. Finally I buckled down and just went for it! We did the 3-day method, where we stayed home for 3 full days, not going absolutely anywhere, just to potty train. And it worked. Thank Goodness!!

We started on the morning of Thursday, January 17th. I got her dressed, made a big deal about her getting to wear her new Minnie undies, fed her breakfast, then stuck her on her potty. And so it began. I left her on there until she went, which was 2 hours. 2 very long hours. But once she went, I made a big deal about it and explained to her what she had just done. Since she had just gone, I figured she would be good to go for a bit, but I was wrong...she went 3 times within the next half hour. ugh. After nap time, we went at it again, and again she sat there for 2 hours, finally went, and then went 2 more times soon after that. She did however go poop in her potty that night!! And since then she still hasn't gone poop in her pants. I am very grateful for that:)

Her favorite part was helping me dump it into the big potty, washing her hands, and of course, her reeses pieces treat!

While waiting for her to pee, we did a lot of sitting.

And a lot of watching movies/cartoons!

And a lot of reading and singing songs. But it was worth it:)

After Day 2, she was doing so good, so we celebrated with some yummy brownie/ice cream sundaes! She deserved it, and so did Mommy:)

I love this! I didn't do this on purpose either, but her undies and shirt match--white with pink hearts!!

Just a little recap of her progress for my own remembering:
Day 1: a couple accidents in her undies. went poop in potty!
Day 2: She would start to go in her undies, then hold it and tell me she had to go potty, and go the rest of the way in the potty!
Day 3: no accidents, but was stubborn about going in her potty. she would hold it forever and not go, but once we put her in the bath tub for bath time she went a lot. little stinker!
Day 4: we were in the kitchen, she went into living room and was playing.  A bit later we looked in there and she had taken off her pants and undies and was on her potty--she did it all by herself!! YAY:)  She also put her undies on all by herself!
The next week we went to my brother's basketball game. She had a pull up on, but before the game even started she told me needed to go potty. I took her to the bathroom, but she hadn't gone yet on a big potty, so I wasn't sure what to expect...but she did it!!  Big Girl:)
I believe we've only had one more accident since then. She is good about telling me when she needs to go, and she loves to go potty on the big potty at new places...always at inconvenient times of course (like when I'm in the checkout line at the grocery store)!
She is also very good about telling us during bath time if she needs to go...you'd think she would just go in the tub, but she doesn't. The one annoying thing though is that she thinks she needs to sit on the potty every time she toots. She'll tell us she needs to go potty, we'll put her on, she'll toot, then say she's done and get down. It's not a big deal til we're in a store or church or wherever and we hurry her to the bathroom just to have her pass gas. grrrrr. better safe than sorry though:)
I am very grateful that she caught on quickly and that she was potty trained within just days! It was nice to have her trained by the time she turned 2, and I was really hoping I'd have her trained by the time the new baby comes--it's a huge relief:)
Now just to work on staying dry during nap and bed time. Joy!