We were hoping Annelise would be a little earlier than Danny's 3 years and 2 1/2 months, but not quite. She actually potty-trained at exactly the same age Danny did. None of this "oh, she's a girl and girls are always earlier" or " she's the second child so she'll want to use the toilet earlier." Annelise isn't exactly a rule follower, and potty-training wasn't any exception.If you calculate the 3 years, 2 1/2 months (her birthday is March 23rd), you can figure out that she "figured it out" two weeks before we left on vacation. She had actually been doing pretty well with #1 before that, but #2 was mastered in that second week of June. I really do believe that this process is a lot easier when you let the children do their thing in their own time. I don't think Annelise would have had it any other way!
We had a couple of reward issues. We had told her she would get the Itty Bitty Baby (from American Girl Dolls) when she was no longer wearing a diaper during the day, so totally DAY trained. But she was having trouble with #2 and we needed to find a reward that would work (not candy, stickers were not meaningful enough). I was chatting with my friends (my crafty friends!) and mentioned how easy cheap, plastic figures were as an incentive for Danny, but I hadn't found anything for Annelise like that. After thinking for a while, one friend mentioned making a charm bracelet and every time she did #2 on the potty she could add a charm. All materials are pretty cheap at Michael's and Annelise would have a nice trinket when she is done. A brilliant idea that really worked!
She mastered it all by the time we left for vacation, and then she had a few issues while we were gone, including public restrooms and automatic flush toilets! Nothing insurmountable though. And when we got home we ordered the coveted doll.
And I LOVE not spending that cash on diapers!
2 comments:
oh those public toilets can really terrorize young potty trainers... It took Ava a long time to get over a particularly loud flush in a public restroom. She is still a little wary!
Yup... it sticks with them. We have to use our fingers to cover the "eye" of the automatic toilet so it doesn't flush while she is sitting there. One time she fell into the toilet at a Chick-fil-A, and she hasn't forgotten that!
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