Potty-Training Vienna

OKAY, SO I'M GOING TO NEED SOME FEEDBACK ON THIS POST

We have decided that all the signs are saying it's time to try potty-training Vienna and here is where we are. Bought a pack of 7 Disney Princess undies, there is a candy cane she has been dying to have, if she actually goes in the toilet (which he hasn't yet), her small toilet seat (insert to the regular size kind) and a small step stool. 

Now what?

Some of my fabulous Facebook friends have said the following:

• Get a Potty Watch! Best thing ever. Kid to Kid sells them

  
  
• Lots of patients!!!!!

  
  
• I've been reading about it but still didn't have the courage to start. The potty watch is good! They have them at Maceys too! Good luck! 

  
  
• With my son we would reward him when he went on the potty. We went and bought a bunch of small cheap toys and his favorite treats put them in a basket and when he went potty he could pick something out of the basket. It seemed to work great. 

  
  
• Food coloring in the toilet so it changes color when they go. Also a jar of skittles or m&ms for reward.

  
  
• Make her believe that it was her idea to start going in the toilet. Inception style.

  
  
• Rewards and a potty chart..I remember calling Bill at work for Evan to tell daddy he went poo poo in the potty! Sorry Ev. (from Evan's Mommy:)

• Don't get upset when she has accidents. It's going to happen, so just expect it and be patient. My grandpa always told me (he's a social worker) that the worst thing you can do to a child is freak out over potty training accidents. It can really damage their self confidence and actually make potty training harder. I would usually say something like, "Oh no! Sophie had an accident! That's yucky. We only poop/pee in the potty! Help me clean it up, please." Then I did actually make her help me. Treats are good. We found that toys didn't work because they distracted her way too much. You can get apps on your phone for free instead of buying potty watch. I just did it the old fashioned way and set our kitchen timer if I was having trouble remembering. Let her run around in just undies for a few days. It helps. Even in the winter. She won't freeze. Just turn your air up a bit.

Jan 11th Update of the current happenings:

They are amazing! Thanks again guys! So yesterday Vienna went a whole hour in her undies, no accidents but no signs of wanting to go in the toilet either. Then she had 3 accidents in a row. She was so surprised the first time and I think just in shock the next two times. Like she was unsure why this was happening, and she couldn't figure out why she was "spilling" lol. She calls it spilling:). All in all it was funny, but today is a new day. I am planning on going to the gym at 10:30am. Should I still go and just put her in a diaper with her undies on top??

Help please!

Jan 30th Update of the current happenings: SUCCESS!!

My barely 2-year old little Vienna is POTTY TRAINED! I will be honest, I didn't think it would be that easy. I mean, I had my doubts for those first 2-3 days but she was a champ. As much as I would like to just sit here and brag about how brilliant she is or how proud I am of her, I will tell you what I did so YOU can maybe have some of those feelings too!

Here is what I did:

• Made the idea of no diapers new and EXCITING!
• Had a little chat about we keep our undies clean.  (This was huge. She still says "We keep our undies clean" during the day, it obviously stuck)
• Let her know that we wont be wearing diapers anymore. (I had 2 moments where I told her we would just go back to wearing diapers and she DID NOT like that idea)
• Just letting her run around in her undies and shirt. NO PANTS! Super scary but it totally worked. It took her 3 accidents to realize what was really going on and that she DID NOT like dirty undies. 
• I'm pregnant so my squished bladder has come in handy. I tell her I have to go to the bathroom and she tries to race me there saying she has to go too! 
• Okay so I thought this was funny but what worked better than giving her treats/candy was the "happy dance"! Every time she would actually go to the bathroom, I would do a crazy, happy dance and she LOVES it. Even now when she goes, she says "Mom, dance!" 
• Telling Daddy! She was always so excited to tell daddy that she went like a big girl. 
• Don't go back to diapers! Don't give in, even when it seems like it might not work. Kids are smart and they figure out that this is just a part of being like mommy and daddy.

What didn't help:

• Asking her every 15 minutes DID NOT help. She actually started to get annoyed and frustrated at me for asking all the time. After like 3 days, I realized she only goes to the bathroom like 4 times a day so asking a million times was not helpful.
• Trying to put her back in diapers for nighttime was not going to happen. I just had to plan on accidents because she was SO confused why I was putting her back in them. I figured she had a good point. We did no diapers 100% of the time and she didn't wear diapers for naps or nighttime at all. It was hard for the first 3 nights because Evan and I were changing her sheets 1-2 times per night. He would clean everything, make it all fresh and clean while I took her to the bathroom, rinsed her off and got her in clean undies and pjs. She was very sad when it would happen and she wasn't thrilled about the quick bath in the middle of the night but she figured it was better then "dirty undies"
• Taking her to public restrooms DID NOT help. She literally did not go #2 for almost 48 hours because she was scared of the toilet flushing. The electric toilets, hand dryers and other loud noises freaked her out. She started refusing to go but would panic because she had to go, she just didn't want to. I let her get the hang of it at home for a whole day and then made sure to take our little potty seat with us if we went out so it would be less intimidating. She only needed that reassurance for about a week though.

For like a week, she would tell us she had to go to the bathroom like 20 times a day so to sit on the toilet. That has fortunately faded! She rarely does that anymore.

Okay here's the run down. She wakes up around 9 am and within 15-30 mins is calling for me saying she's all done sleeping or that she has to go to the bathroom. She still sleeps in her crib.....so she physically can't go by herself. In all honesty, I didn't think that one through. We got a little system figured out though so it's okay now. In the last 2 weeks, she has woken up twice during the night asking to go. I keep all the lights off and quietly take her to the bathroom. She's sleepy but goes right back to sleep afterwards. In the morning, some times she doesn't even have to go to the bathroom till 10 or 10:30am. I only give her  2-5oz of water or milk in the evening/night so I guess it's just enough for her to easily hold. 

All in all, it has been TOTALLY worth it. It is a lot of work for a good week-ish but it's absolutely fabulous not having to change diapers at all. She hasn't had any accidents, day or night in over a week now and she's always really good about telling us when she has to go. 

Yay for Vienna!