The End of Diapers!

I apologize for the lack of postings over the past few weeks.  In the midst of working summer camp, cleaning out the junk in my classroom, and attending a week long TEACCH Training, we decided to try potty training again... Yes I said again...

A few months ago, when Mackenzy was about 20 months old I decided to try potty training because she was showing all of the signs of readiness.  She was telling us when she was wet, willing to sit on the potty, requesting to change her diaper when it was dirty, and even saying she needed to go potty.  I thought it would be a piece of cake, but boy was I wrong.  Our sweet little girl became a stressed out toddler because she couldn't figure it out and I got discouraged because I  couldn't figure out why she wasn't getting it.  After about a week of no success, we put the training pants away and put her back in diapers and gave training a break.

After waiting a few months, reading a few more books, and waiting for the signs to reappear, I decided to give it another try.  I stocked the kitchen with plenty of drinks, toys, the computer, and her favorite DVDs and barricaded my bottomless child in the kitchen so I could clean up easier.  After a day of trying to "catch" her pee in the potty, she finally went potty right before bedtime!  She was so proud of herself and Ray and I happily did the potty dance!

2 weeks later, Mackenzy is telling us when she needs to go potty, wearing big girl panties, and will pee in everyone's toilet!  We did have a few setbacks on the way: (1) at first she would only use the potty when she was bottomless because the training pants and pull ups felt like diapers to her; (2) traveling long periods of time in the car makes it harder to stay on her potty schedule sowe have to stop more frequently; and (3)  she has had to learn to take little sips because she'll pee every 5 minutes if she drinks an entire cup of drink...

Overall, we are so proud of our Big (22 month) old Girl!  We realize that she's still learning and she may have some setbacks in the future, but we are well on the way to the end of diapers!!!