Potty Training...Success!

We'd put off potty training Claire for a number of reasons. We didn't want to jump in before Eloise was born, thinking she might regress or feel like we were kicking her out of the baby slot. We were further delayed by our sudden move onto the base. We thought the transition time wouldn't lend itself well to potty training either.

For the last several months, we've been introducing her to the idea and encouraging her when she wanted to use the potty, but we didn't do any specific method. I think both Andy and I were hoping that it would just happen on it's own as Claire did show some interest, but there was nothing consistent.

Finally, over the long Veterans Day weekend, we decided to follow Lora Jenson's three day potty training method. The method is really child centered and does not have the parent putting the child on the potty at specific intervals, rather it tries to teach the child to pay attention to his/her own body.

Going into it, we were skeptical as we didn't really believe it could be done in three days, however, even though it really wasn't a three day "quick fix" the method really did work. It was a tough several days and she really didn't seem to "get it" until the very end of the third day. The fourth day was much better and she continued to improve from there. In addition to using the method, we did end up using various small rewards with her, which really seemed to work.

Since then, Claire has definitely had some accidents, but most days are good days and after about five to six or seven days, we were ready to declare success with the potty. Claire still has accidents sometimes, but she is doing really well with it. Interestingly, she does particularly well when we are out and about and many of her accidents are at home. She (and all of us) are still trying to work out the kinks, but in general, we are all much happier about it.

And, it is SO nice not to have to change two sets of diapers any more. Yay!