(This post was originally written in July, 2017)
What happens when the pants are back on? What about leaving the house?
We began the 3-day potty training method shortly after my daughter’s second birthday. Days 1-3 went better than I could have hoped (See 3-Day Potty Training- Day 1 and 3-Day Potty Training- Days 2 & 3), but I still wondered what would happen after day 3?
Today I’m sharing how days 4-6 went, including our first major outing, and a final update on how things are going now, four months later.
3-Day Potty Training Day 4
7:00 I go to get G and show her the new Minnie Mouse underwear. She’s happy to put them on. I explain it’s not a diaper and we’ll still be using the potty.
8:25 After practicing throughout the morning, G goes pee in the potty. She doesn’t like having the underwear around her ankles and wants to take them all the way off. I explain that we only pull them down and wonder how long it will take her to get used to the idea.
8:35 G is in the living room alone, with her summer infant potty, while I’m in the kitchen. She took off her underwear, went poop in the potty and then announced “Poo!” to Daddy!
8:45 G stops playing, says “Pa!” (Potty), runs to the potty, takes off her underwear and pees in the potty!
She did so well that I stopped counting the number of times she successfully made it to the potty, until…
4:20 I get overconfident and leave G’s potty chair in the living room while we play in her (carpeted) bedroom. We’ve been sticking to the tiled living room and kitchen for 3 days, so we’re all excited to be in the bedroom. G gets distracted by her toys and has and accident.
4:25 After getting all cleaned up, and bringing the potty in her room, G has a second accident. I yell, “Potty!” and she manages to make it to the potty to finish.
The potty chair followed us around the house the rest of the day, and I gave G frequent reminders. No more accidents.
Days 5 & 6
We stayed home on both days. No accidents on day 5, and G successfully took herself to the potty (though I still helped with toilet paper and washing hands) several times. On day 6, G had one small accident.
Our First Long Trip Out (Day 7)
I had major doubts about Day 7. We were one week in, and had plans to visit my mother-in-law for an all-day trip that included two 45 minute car rides and a 2 hour visit to my mother-in-law’s church. In preparation, G was offered water in the morning, no juice. I encouraged her to use the potty before we left, which she did while playing the Daniel Tiger Potty App.
We put on her underwear, and a pair of gerber plastic pants (which were huge!), packed her Summer Infant potty seat and headed out. And we miraculousy made it the whole day with no accidents! We went straight to Grandma’s house, where she used her potty chair before heading to the church. Then back to Grandma’s house, where she used her potty chair throughout the day with no accidents, even after two juice boxes.
When we got home, she did have a small accident as we were getting her out of the car. My fault- I forgot to have her use the potty before we left Grandma’s.
3 Month Later
So how are we doing 3 months later? G is doing great. She occasionally has an accident, but they’re extremely rare and usually happen while she’s making a dash to the potty. We leave the house frequently, and have only had one accident while out in public (in the church nursery, where they were very gracious).
She still requires some assistance, mostly with making sure she uses the toilet paper correctly, and occasionally with pulling her pants up.
We haven’t tackled naps and nighttime. G shares a room with her baby sister, and she’s still happily sleeping in her crib. I’m in no rush to move her to a toddler bed as I anticipate attempted “playtime” with baby sister after lights out. I’m in no hurry to switch to underwear overnight until G is in a toddler bed.
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