Big Boy and Little Girl climb into our bed, and after being quiet for about 2 minutes, start clamoring for breakfast. I groggily get them something to eat and make sure Little Girl has a full glass of milk to start off her day with lots of fluids.
7:30am
I sit down to breakfast and review the procedure for the day.
1. Show Little Girl with a doll how to check for dry underwear, hurry to the bathroom, put the step-stool and child-size insert on the toilet, pull underwear down, sit on the toilet, urinate, wipe, pull underwear up, and flush.
2. Have Little Girl walk the doll through every step of the process, "teaching" the doll how to potty.
3. Demonstrate wet underwear by having the doll have an "accident" and practice hurrying to the potty a few times to reinforce the right procedure for keeping pants dry.
4. Have Little Girl practice each step of the process herself, giving salty treats and as much fluids as she'll drink at every step along the way.
5. Do "dry pants" inspections every 5 minutes, rewarding her for having dry pants.
6. Practice the potty procedure every 15 minutes, trying to sit on the potty quietly for as long as possible so as to catch her on the potty when she does need to go. Reward for success independently performing each step of the process.
7. When she has an accident, have her practice the right way to keep pants dry 10 times, clean up her mess, and change herself into clean underwear.
8am
I prepare snacks, drinks, checklist for dry pants inspections and potty successes, doll, and plenty of clean underwear. Everything is in the bathroom or the girls' room so we can limit our range at least for the beginning of training.
8:15am
I begin training. First, I sent Big Boy with his toys to the other end of the house with strict instructions not to interfere with us all day. We worked with the doll for the first 45 minutes or so. Little Girl really liked this part.
9:30am
Our first success! She was very distressed at the idea of peeing -- I could tell by her facial expression. But we cheered and high-fived and sang a celebration song and gave treats and really tried to reinforce that this was GOOD.
10am
First accident. But we got onto the potty fast and stayed long enough to finish peeing and actually have a bowel movement too. So I didn't make her practice 10 times, just 3. She HATES that part, but that's really the point -- I want to motivate her to keep her underwear dry. When it's wet, it should be a big pain to go through the whole rigamarole of practicing the right way 10 times!
10:30am
Another accident, but just a little. We did the practice a bunch of times and she got really upset. Then we put on dry underwear. She peed a little more very quickly. This time I had her sit on the potty for awhile, and she peed a large amount after waiting a few minutes. Again, I skipped the multiple practices because I wanted to reinforce the positive part. She still isn't telling me she needs to go, though. I have to make her get on the potty and watch for signs.
1pm
Little Girl still isn't initiating, and her automatic reply to my questions about whether she needs to go is still "no." But she's kept herself dry for awhile and we've had 2 more successful trips to the potty. I'm trying to decide what to do for naptime. Should I go ahead and leave her in underwear, knowing that I will most likely be changing her sheets? Or should I figure on pullups for sleeping and underwear for waking hours? I don't mind pullups at night, but I'd like to be in underwear all day asap.
3:45pm
I put her to bed in underwear, and she did wet the bed. She wakes up really groggy, so she had a tough time sitting on the potty right away. She did it, but she didn't pee. She did drink a large amount though, and then we took off for the swimming pool. Since she had a bowel movement today, I knew it would be ok not to put a swimming diaper on her, which was nice (though she was a bit upset by that at first!).
6:15pm
We got back from the pool, and she very willingly went straight to the potty when we got home. And she peed really fast this time! She also drank a good amount at the pool, so I'm hopeful that we can get one or two more successes in before bed tonight.
8:30pm
No more successes. We had an accident at dinner, but who knows? Maybe the repeated practice, especially from outside on our deck where we were eating, was better in the long run than a success would have been. All in all, I feel encouraged by the progress we made today. Tomorrow should be interesting -- going to church with underwear instead of pullups could be quite an adventure. But there's no going back now!
