I really didn't have the energy to attempt to potty train her while I was pregnant, plus a lot of people told me that she would most likely regress after Zander was born. I have to say that was my excuse for not really trying.
Matt took off a month of work after Zander's birth so I figured this was the best time to potty train her. We were both home, we were basically confined to the house anyways with a newborn so why not try. I did not buy any books or follow anything specifically but I will tell you what worked for us. We basically took the 3 day potty training method and made it work for us.
Get your supplies ready. Lots of panties, a potty, some type of reward (stickers, M&Ms, smarties), an alarm and LOTS of patience. We decided to use M&Ms as Kinley's reward for going on the potty. She would get 3 M&M's for a pee and 6 for a poop. I wanted the reward to make it worth her while and I didn't think she would go for 1 M&M. For the first 3 days I kept her in her panties and a shirt. Nothing else and we didn't leave the house.
Day 1:
Kinley got up and we told her she was going to wear big girl panties and no more diapers. She was actually pretty excited. We told her she was going to have to go to the potty every so often when the potty alarm went off. I set my alarm on my phone every 15 minutes. When the alarm would go off we would take Kinley to the potty and try to make her go. She did really well with this and actually had a handful of pees on the potty on day 1. She did have a few accidents on day 1 but I was expecting nothing less. She did not poop on day 1 but that is ok. We did put a diaper on for nap and bedtime. She has never woken up dry from either so I was not ready to try that yet. We made sure she tried to pee before nap and bed.
Day 2:
She woke up dry! I was shocked. First thing was to pee on the potty when she got up. Then I set the alarm for 15 minutes. By the third or forth alarm on day 2 she was saying "potty time," when the alarm would go off. She did have two accidents on day 2 in the morning but one was my fault because I didn't make her try to pee before she went outside. She didn't have any more accidents the rest of the day. She even had a poop on the potty. After a few times in the potty she would tell us when she had to pee. We started to space out the time a little more in the afternoon since she was telling us.
Day 3:
She did not wake up dry like on day 2. We started to space out the time to 30-45 minutes but would constantly ask if she had to pee by watching her behaviors. A few times I would catch her doing the potty dance so we would get her to the bathroom right away. She did not have any accidents on day 3 and told us all day long when she had to pee and poop. It was amazing to watch her catch on so fast.
They say after day 3 you can leave the house but I was still a little nervous to leave and we didn't have any plans so we hung out around the house for another day. On day 5 she had music class and we needed to get to the grocery store so we ventured out. She did excellent. We made sure she peed before we left the house and asked if she had to pee when we got to our destination. She did try in the grocery store but she did not pee. She did pee in the car though, on the potty.
We made a big deal when she would pee or poop on the potty. Lots and lots of praise. Then like I mentioned she would get M&Ms. It has been a week and a half since day 1 and she had her first accident today. I still ask her randomly and watch her cues for when she gets too busy to remember. I am sure that is what happened this morning. We were trying to get out of the house and I wasn't paying attention and it had been too long since she went. Though overall I would say she has done pretty amazing to have had one accident in over a week. We have left the house several times with no accidents. We have had to turn around several times when we get down the street and she says she has to pee. One day we turned around twice and then pulled over in a parking lot for her to use the potty. Bring a potty with, it saves having to turn around to go home!
She still isn't waking up dry from nap or night and since she ends up in our bed every night I am not washing the sheets every day from pee. I wash them enough from night sweats, spit up or leaky boobs. That is enough for me.
She took to potty training pretty easily but I knew she was ready. We went into it with the idea if she wasn't having it we would quit and try again. She was a rockstar. I have to say it was definitely exhausting but so worth it.
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