From skeptic to believer: Adventures in potty training

Clearly, I'm way behind in blogging. I wrote this post on November 30th and am just now getting around to posting it. Life with two kids has been a little hectic but I'm hoping I'll be making more regular appearances here on the 'ol blog!

The inevitable 'potty training' milestone is something most parents both dread and long for at the same time. Oh how nice it will be when the kids are out of diapers, right? It's the getting there that's the tricky part. Sometimes it's just easier to keep them in diapers a little longer. I know how lazy that sounds but it's a daunting task I assure you. I am a planner by nature so going in blind so to speak usually doesn't work well for me. I would much rather have something to follow with specific steps all laid out. Enter, Lora Jensen's 3 day potty training method. I know, I know, it sounds much too good to be true. What child is actually potty trained after just 3 days? Wishful thinking commence please. But seriously, it made a believer out of me. A friend swore by this method and said her daughter hadn't had one accident after day 1. Day 1?! Are you kidding me? So, I told myself I at least had to give it a try.

It is basically a 3 day period of intense focus on only potty training. That's right, following your child around for 3 straight days without leaving the house until it 'clicks' for them. Meanwhile, throwing out the diapers at the beginning of day 1. There were many times over the 3 days I was about ready to throw in the towel. Yeah right, what a hoax, 3 day blah blah blah. Even the first time Reese told us she had to go and made it to the potty in time, I chalked it up to coincidence. But from that one time, it really did seem to click for her. It's all about doing away with the coincidence factor and rather making them recognize the feeling and then expressing that to you. Reese hasn't had an accident while she's been awake since that one time on day 2. Which brings me to my next point. Nighttime training. Ugh. She does say in her book, most kids should be waking up dry if they are over 22 months of age. Well, Reese rarely woke up dry before we started so I had a feeling this would be the tricky part for us. She also stresses kids can be trained day or night with this 3 day method. I don't think that's the case for us specifically, but I'm happy with where we are after only a few days. We are still working on morning wake up potty trips to avoid the accident in the bed (which is still hit or miss at this point). One day at a time I guess.

Update: Now, 2 1/2 months later, Reese is still doing great with potty training. We're still struggling with nighttime training so she's in pull-ups for the time being. Hopefully, we will tackle that soon. Maybe when we're all getting a bit more sleep around here!