Saturday, May 21, 2011

Potty Time

The battle to potty train Chloe has been exhausting:
First, we tried asking her to potty and just getting her to sit there. At first, she'd panic (big potty or small potty. didn't matter).
Second, we tried bribing her to try and potty. We got now where.
Third, we tried bribing her for going potty. (But it's hard to give her treats for doing it when you can't get her to sit on the potty).
Fourth, we tried setting a timer and checking her every 15 minutes. She got M&Ms when she was dry. Every hour, on the potty (but that ended in crying and screaming).
Fifth, we tried no diaper. The thought process is she'd hate not being allowed in her room (she loves to go in and play for hours!) and would hate being wet. She even had to clean up accidents. No good.
Sixth, we tried no panties either. Yep, pretty much the same as the prior attempt.
Finally last week I had had enough. Sunday I told her we were done being a baby. I told her she had to sit on the potty the next day. She said ok (she always said she would "try tomorrow".) I asked her what should happen if she told me no about trying. She decided I could take TV away from her. Well, on Monday morning I told her it was time to sit on the potty. She panicked and said no. I told her she didn't have a choice and on the potty she went. After half an hour, sure enough she pottied! I just kept it up. The only accident all day was a stinky diaper (which I understand is harder to teach). Tuesday (day two), the same thing. Wednesday (day three), she had NO accidents! Thursday (Day four), I put her in panties. One wet accident. Friday, (day five), well it was an awful day! Several wet accidents throughout the day so I put her back in a diaper. But today, she was back on track again. She had one accident when she was outside playing with Mamaw and Papaw and one during bath-time (ew), but all in all it was a successful day again.
So, since she's been doing so well, I guess it's time to invest in the promises we've made:
A trip to the zoo
A trip to the park
Enroll her in school
Take her to the store to pick out new panties
A goldfish
A butterfly
A bunny
A hamster
A puppy
A trip to the toy store to pick out anything she wants
And about 100 other bribes and requests...
Obviously, I'm not giving into all her demands, but we'll be making some choices and going from there...

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