Day 4: Change in Strategy

So it turns out that Chad and I are the proud parents of a strong willed child. (Don't know where she got that from! Ha!) Potty training has been going well, but Emily was becoming resistant to the many bathroom trips necessary to become fully trained. We know that Emily has the ability to recognize the need to potty and communicate that need (illustrated in the past few months). Chad and I realized that not once in 3 days had she said, "I need to go potty." This was a bit frustrating to us. We would rather not have this be a negative experience for her.

Chad called his mom (the mother of 7 potty trained kids) for some advice. After talking with her, we decided to change our approach. We decided to relax a little and "let her train herself". We put away all the rewards and decided to let her take the initiative to go to the bathroom. We sat Emily down when she woke up this morning and told her that she needed to be the one to tell us when she needed to go to the potty. It was up to her to stay "clean and dry". We of course continued to use a lot of praise and coach her on how to keep clean and dry, but didn't take her to the potty.

The morning was a bit of a set back. She had 2 accidents within the first 30 minutes and one a little later in the day. Luckily, both were in the kitchen and the other on her "princess towel" where clean up is easy. We didn't make a big deal about it, but reinforced the idea that it was up to her to stay dry by using the potty. Still, she never independently went to the potty.

She was in a pull-up in the afternoon due to a lunch play date and nap time. In the afternoon we went to the park. I continued to coach her saying that she should let me know if she needed to go potty to stay dry and we would use the bathrooms at the park. Then a miracle happened... While at the park she told me she needed to go potty! And wouldn't you know it, the bathrooms were locked!

When we got home I put her on the potty and back into her "big girl panties". She had stayed dry until we got home. When Chad got home from work, she told him she needed to go potty. And told him each time the rest of the night. I don't know if it is a breakthrough or not, but she's on a roll. It looks promising. Thanks for the advice Nana!