Potty Training: Princesses, Minnie Mouse, and M&Ms

So our previous attempt to begin potty training was an epic fail where mommy realized she was forcing it and Grace was just NOT ready.  I'm sure lots of girls her age (we began on 4th of July so she was 2 years and almost 3 months) have successfully potty trained but Grace just wasn't ready yet.  Once I realized that I was pushing her and it wasn't working, we pulled back and decided to take a break.

With try #1 I made a big deal about it too far in advance.  I chose the potty, rewards..basically anything to do with the whole training process.  I realized this time around, I should let Grace do the choosing so there was more motivation.

We went to Target earlier in the week and I let her choose a potty seat cover (princess of course).  I recommend these because they go on top of the toilet instead of having a separate cute little potty for them to go in which you have to clean out and then transition them to the big one anyways.  Then, I let her choose her "reward" for peeing and pooping in the potty.  She chose peanut M&Ms.  My mom had bought her some Minnie Mouse panties that weren't opened the first time around so it was perfect that we had three NEW things this time.  I kind of wanted to start from scratch.

Day 1: Thursday, August 8th
The potty training stuff was sitting out on the counter in the bathroom.  Grace must have seen the stuff because she came running out with her Minnie Mouse panties and said, "Grace wear Minnie panties, mommy".  I'm not going to lie, I had some flashbacks to our first attempt a month ago and wasn't necessarily ready for this just yet.  But, since she initiated it, we went for it.
*My goal was to push fluids at her and try to have her attempt to potty every 20 minutes.

Accident #1 happened but it wasn't much and we talked about keeping our panties dry like a big girl.
The second time I put her on the potty, she peed!  We put up a sticker on the chart and she got to choose her M&M.  The third time she began to pee in her panties but stopped herself and finished on the potty. It's like that was the clicking point for her because every time I had her try after that, she went.  We were both excited!

Day 2: Friday, August 9th
In the morning, Grace peed like a champ.  She did poop in her panties even though I was keeping a good eye on her.  She sort of finished on the potty but was pretty nervous about it.  In the afternoon she kept dry!

Day 3: Saturday, August 10th
Grace initiated going to the potty on her own in the afternoon on this day!  She would say, "Grace need go potty".  Each time she told me this, she went.  I didn't push fluids once she started asking because I realized she could tell when she needed to go.  I did ask her pretty often if she needed to go but she would always say no and didn't have to go.  Jimmy and I were super proud about this (she was SO excited that her daddy was home and kept running around the corner to tell him she "pooped" (i.e. peed) in the potty.

Day 4: Sunday, August 11th
BLESS this disastrous morning.  It started off wonderfully, though.

Shortly after breakfast time, Grace came walking down the hall with a book from the bathroom and said, "Grace need go potty, mommy".  Jimmy and I got a kick out of this because she had her literature and was ready to go!  We had books near the potty and that seemed to help her relax.  Once she started asking to go potty, she would just sit right down and go.

 Then the morning took a not so wonderful turn...

I had given Grace a lot of Miralax because I didn't want it to hurt her when she pooped.  We went outside and I took my eye off of her for a minute when I realized she was standing still and quiet (the girl doesn't stop talking unless she is eating or sleeping).  She said, "Grace pooping, mommy".  I told her to come to me so we could go inside and as she was running to me, she busted her face on the road, lip first.  I brought a screaming, bloody, and poopy girl inside...let's just say that wasn't fun!

Shortly after this incident, she was sent to time-out and when I went to get her, she had peed.  I started thinking the worst like..."oh no, all that progress for nothing...maybe she isn't trained..."  Then I realized that she knows she can't talk or get out of time-out so I guess she had no other options, haha.

*Flashback/embarrassing story about my brother, Jordan (sorry bud!)
My brother was outside playing at after school care (kindergarten or 1st grade) one day and he got put in time-out. He really had to go to the bathroom but thought he would get in trouble for getting out of time-out to ask so he did what any logical 5 or 6 year old would do, he peed on the brick wall.  The workers didn't think it was as funny as my parents.  When my mom came to pick us up, they tried to explain to her what happened and I think she had to fight back laughter.  Priceless.  Okay, back to Grace!

I had her try a few times after that, fearing she might wet herself but she didn't.  About half an hour later, she asked to go potty so that was a relief.

Day 5: Monday, August 12th: DRY DAY!!
I had to work this morning so Grace spent time with my friend Gretchen and her daughter, Brooke.  I put Grace in panties and brought all her gear but was pretty sure she'd have an accident.  I didn't want to keep putting her in a pull-ups when she was away from home because I feel like that's confusing to a potty trainer.  When I came back from work (3 hours later) Grace was wearing the same shorts and panties.  She had asked to go potty several times AND kept dry!  I was ecstatic!!

After nap time Grace asked to go potty and didn't have ONE accident!  She kept dry the whole day.  The deal is if you can keep dry for a whole day, you get to choose your treat so I'm pretty sure she'll end up with some type of Minnie toy or helicopter from Target tomorrow :)  She didn't poop at all today but some days she doesn't poop.  I strongly believe that once it clicks, it clicks. Day 2 seemed to be that day for her even though she still had some mishaps after that.  Once she started asking to go potty I realized she was pretty much pee trained.  The dry day today has confirmed that thought!  I'm sure we'll have some accidents here and there but Hallelujah for no more diapers!!

At this point, we have put a pull-up on during nap and bed time.  I put it on at nap time because she sleeps 2-3 hours and usually has a full diaper afterwards.  I am going to ease into having her wear panties during nap time.  We will also ease into wearing panties at night once she really shows me she is fully potty trained.

We are proud of our little lady and so impressed how quickly it stuck this time around!