going.

miss maggie took the plunge and is potty trained.

well mostly.

you know.

i still get a little nervous that we may be the reason the pool has to close for contamination or that we may leave a puddle in the middle of a aisle at say hobby lobby.

she is doing great.

when she goes potty she announces "goooooing!" oh so proudly.

its so cool to watch her take such a big step.

AND we have also gotten a free tour of the public restrooms around town.

love that. ha.



i thought i would share my tips on potty training.

i know there are many thoughts, ideas, plans for potty training.

i am not saying this is the right way or the only way but this is the way that has worked like a charm for us.

1. months before you plan to potty train buy the supplies. start with a potty chair and some panties. let the child sit on the potty chair and try to use the toilet. get in the routine of trying before baths or first thing in the morning. wear underwear over diapers or even without a diaper. know that you will likely have little success. the goal right now is to peak interest. we bought the potty chair that maggie is using this summer last summer!

2. wait. wait until your child shows interest. then let it fester a bit.

3. give it a try. switch over to underwear for a day and see how it goes. remind them to use the bathroom every 30 minutes or so. but let them go about their business as usual. know that you may clean up a lot more pee than actually gets in the toilet. celebrate success. talk about how icky accidents feel. stay positive. do not punish for accidents. if things don't go well or the child is over it throw in the towel and go back to diapers. you may "give it a try" several times before the child actually takes control and starts using the potty.

4. wait some more. wait until your child asks to start using the potty. with all three of our girls there has been a day where they decided to start using the potty and from that day there was no turning back. all three have picked rather inconvenient days to do so. but they also did it with very few accidents.

5. stay a little bit closer to home for a few days but try to go about life as usual. hopefully you will be pleasantly surprised at how well they can do.

5. follow the child's lead. we use diapers at night and during naps at the beginning. then wean diapers away during naps and eventually during night time.