Potty Training! AAAAHHHHH!

Lyla has been interested in using the potty for a few months now and would sometimes tell us when she needed to pee or poop and would go in the potty. I've felt like she was ready potty train, but have just been putting it off thinking it would just happen somehow. Then Lyla's BFF Anna Claire and her brave mom did a 3 day potty training boot camp. Anna Claire did so well, that pretty much our entire playgroup decided to do the same thing. The information is from an ebook written by Lora Jensen. The information in the ebook is really good, but 3 days definitely did not get the job done. Basically, the 3 days consisted of Lyla wearing nothing but big girl panties and a t-shirt so I could always see if she was having an accident. Then I had to follow her around for 3 days and when she started to go I would rush her to the potty to finish in the potty followed by a lot of cheering, positive reinforcement and a small treat. The toughest part was definitely staying home and devoting every minute of the day to watching her. I had to constantly say, "Are your panties dry?" or "Lyla, tell me when you need to potty, OK?" She had plenty of accidents and still has them sometimes, but overall I think she's doing great. She caught on to the peeing quickly, but poop was another story. When she has to poop she asks to potty every few minutes until she finally gets it out. She usually poops during bath time, but she's really good at asking to get out of the tub to go potty. I guess the warm bath relaxes her and helps her get it out. She also likes to be covered with her towel sometimes, for privacy I guess.

The night we bought Lyla's big girl panties, she wanted to see all of them. We bought Dora, Princess, and a pack of multi-color, multi-design Fruit of the Looms. She is so cute wearing them. Lyla does wear a pull-up at nap and night time (we call them sleeping panties though), but she occasionally wakes up dry and asks to go pee when she wakes up. We also never lay her down to dress or change her because that is for babies. Here she is covered in all her big girl panties. She loves them! I'm so proud of my big girl!!