Potty Party

Samantha had been using the potty pretty frequently at day care and at home, and I have been adamant that I would not have 2 kiddos in diapers at once, so I decided it was time to get Sammy into big girl underpants.  I decided to use the potty training bootcamp / train in a weekend method.  You basically strip the kid down for a couple of days and encourage them to use the potty as much as possible. 

Modeling her Dora big girl panties

To add an element of fun/excitement, we made the first day a Potty Party.  I decorated the bathroom with balloons and streams, got a big bag of M&Ms to use as rewards for using the potty, bought a cake mix, and came up with some other fun activities. 

Potty rewards

I then proceeded to be ridiculously enthusiastic and excited every time Sammy used the potty.  She also got to make a couple of phone calls (Grandma and Grandpa) to tell them about using the potty so that they could tell her how proud they were of her. 

Since I knew there would be accidents, I tried to come up with a lot of activities to do in the kitchen.  Clean-up is much easier on linoleum than it is on carpet.  :-)

Eating breakfast in the kitchen

We baked a Potty Party cake, played in the sensory bin with dried rice, and even painted Sammy's toe nails.  Even with all of my planning, the biggest hit of the day was one of the balloon decorations that Sammy pulled down.  We must have played with that thing for 3 or 4 hours in total.

Pink Piggies!

You want them to have as many opportunities to go on the potty as possbile, so I pumped Sammy full of salty snacks, juice, water, watermelon, etc....anything to make her need to pee.

She also decided early on that even though my bathroom decorations were cool, she'd much rather use her froggy potty in the living room.  Whatever works!

Everybody plays with balloons on the potty, right?

On Day 1, Sammy had 3 big (ie puddle on the floor) accidents, but she managed to poop in the potty two times!  This was encouraging, since she's always resisted pooping on the potty.  By Day 2 her accidents were just tiny little amounts that she would pee in her underware before she realized what was happening and ran to the potty.  I decided to keep her home from day care today (Day 3) because I felt like she was so close to getting it.  So far, she's only had one teeny tiny accident, and every other time she's made it to the potty in time.  Woo hoo!  I'm so proud of her and excited at the possibility of a couple of months without diapers before Little Bit arrives.  I know we'll still have accidents, and I plan on carrying at least one dry change of clothes with us for a while, but I think we're well on our way!

A celebratory slice of cake.  (Sammy did her hair all by herself.  Nice, huh?)