Potty Training...Again

We are jumping aboard the potty train with little A, today.  

Gasp!  I am anxious about starting this process because my experience with Cb's was not so pleasant, for either of us.  F, on the other hand, was much easier.  I had been told that boys were harder to potty train, but not from my experience.  As a boy, F could stand on the potty and shoot the cheerios, as well as run around the backyard and "water" the trees and flowers.  Girls don't get to have all that fun.

Anyway, it's not that I am in a rush to potty train little A, but frequent diaper rash is telling me that it is time.  This time, I mentally prepared myself, weeks in advance.  I perused the Internet for potty training tips and picked a little from here and there of the ideas I thought would work for us.  Next, I gathered my supplies. 

I kept a stack of towels and clean-up supplies nearby.  

One of the sites I came across mentioned that their little boy liked "Cars", so they gave him a figurine from the movie every time he pooped.  Little A likes Mini-Mouse, and not having enough money to buy her a bunch of Mini-Mouse toys, I found some Mini-Mouse dominos.  Every time she pees or poops on the potty she gets a chocolate covered raisin, in honor of what just occurred (just kidding), and a domino.  Every time she just sits on the potty, she gets a Mini-Mouse sticker.  I was going to do what someone suggested and have her stick them on her shirt, but I thought she would loose them if she had an accident and had to change her clothes.  So, as an alternative, I gave her a photo album, put a couple pictures of her in it, and let her stick her sticker collection on the plastic pages.  

I was also going to have her wear one of B's t-shirts and nothing on bottom so that it was easy to just sit and go without feeling naked, as suggested by an Internet site.  She did not like wearing the t-shirt, it was too big.  So, she wore one of her summer dresses with her bare bottom.  That was going well, until the afternoon when she kept asking to wear a diaper.  Instead, I let her wear her new Mini-Mouse underwear and told her that Mini doesn't like to get wet.  I also had some chocolate on hand for myself, in case I was getting frustrated and needed to take a time out.

I bought her this cute little cupcake water bottle to encourage her to drink lots of water throughout the day, which would make her need to go potty more.  She liked the cupcake, but she didn't drink any more.  She just carried it around.

Potty training day 1 wrap up:  Little A earned 3 dominos (peed on the potty 3 times), lots of stickers in her sticker book (sat on the potty every time the potty timer went off, about every 15 minutes, and even asked to sit on the potty unprompted a few times), only 3 minor carpet accidents, a dry Mini at the end of the day, and no chocolate needed for mommy!  She still doesn't fully get the connection between peeing and pooping on the potty and getting her reward, but it will come.  Thank goodness for the iPad, because I was able to put a movie on for her whenever she was on the potty, which helped her to sit longer.  Go Little A!