Pee Pee in the Potty!

We've got pee pee in the potty! PEE PEE in the POTTY! In case you haven't noticed, its a pretty big deal for us since its the first time we've seen her actually do it, and the first time she's done it on her own and by her own accord. Sad part is that I missed it. Actually, its more like I was excluded from it.

It was around 7:15pm on a bath night. After a 5 minute naked run/chase around the house (Kaylani, not us), I sat her down in the bath. Things were going like normal: soap soap soap, rinse rinse rinse, shampoo shampoo shampoo, rinse rinse rinse, cry cry cry. Then as I was getting the toothbrush ready, Kaylani started saying some strange things. The conversation went something like this:

Kaylani: I'm gonna do poo poo in the water.
Me: In the water? No, we don't poo poo in the water.
K: I want to do potty
Me: Ok, but not in the water. Let's brush your teeth now

I didn't believe for a second that she had to actually use the potty, and was actually trying to brush her teeth and get her out so she didn't do poo poo in the water. But when she started crossing her legs and doing the "pee pee" dance that every kid (or adult with poor bladder control) does, I pulled her out of the tub and put her on the potty. She sat for a bit, then cried and said she wanted Mama to put her on the potty.

Being in full swing with her terrible twos, I called for Mommy and stepped out. The tag had been made so Mommy could wrap up. But a minute later, I heard celebrating. Mommy was cheering and saying what a big girl Kaylani was. Kaylani was saying she got to have M&Ms now. And when I stuck my head in, in disbelief that a) she went, and b) I missed it, I was told flatly "Papa, go get me M&Ms."

After 4 mini M&Ms and a few minutes convincing Kaylani that she could wear her panties tomorrow instead of tonight, it was pajama time, story time, then bedtime. Tomorrow we'll see if we can have a few repeat performances since we'll be home all day. If all goes well, we might have a potty trained little girl sooner than we thought...and maybe she'll let me be a part of it! But only time will tell. Stay tuned!

It's Potty Time!

Math time! 6 diapers per day is 42 diapers per week. 42 diapers per week is 42*4.3 diapers per month. 42*4.3 diapers per month is 42*4.3*12 diapers per year. That means that over the course of Kaylani's 2 years and 5 weeks of life, we've used 42*4.3*12*2+42*4.3+42 diapers (give or take a couple here and there). Now that may not seem like a lot (especially since I didn't actually do the math), but I think you get the point. So its no surprise that when Kaylani's cousin Zoe started her potty training that we decided to follow suit shortly after. Unfortunately we haven't had the same "splash" as she did.

For months now, Kaylani has been okay with sitting on the potty. She has her own special Dora seat and even her own mini-potty downstairs, but for the most part, they've just been places for her to sit and relax or read books for a few minutes. Once she went #2 on the mini-potty after starting elsewhere, but otherwise nothing (sidenote: its amazing that the mini-potty was cleaned instead of being thrown out and replaced. Guess its true parenthood (or finances) change you!). So with Kaylani being as comfortable as Daddy on the toilet for 5-10 minutes (or more) at a time, we thought that potty training would be a breeze. Wrong.

When Zoe went cold turkey potty training, Yin Yin bought a "potty watch" to help the process along. The idea was to have a countdown (30, 60, or 90 minute increments) and play a little "potty time" jingle while flashing lights (who doesn't like flashing lights?) which would help remind the child (and the parents) to go potty and avoid accidents. In theory, GREAT invention and probably worth the $11. In theory.

We tried this for the first time around 3:30, after Kaylani woke up from her nap. She was thrilled to try to use the potty, but mainly cuz it meant she got to wear Dora panties instead of a diaper. So after a quick try, we were all systems go. Cold turkey, no diaper, and only her panties, pants, and hopefully hardwood/tiled floor instead of carpet/furniture in the way. 30 minutes later, music and lights came on and it was Potty Time! 1 minute later, we were back with no pee pee in the potty, but that was expected. Every few minutes we'd ask if Kaylani had to use the potty, but the answer was always nope. Another 30 minutes went by with the same results. Music, lights, but no pee pee in the potty. So back out we went.

5 minutes after that 2nd potty trip, we heard this: "Papa I went potty in my pants" followed by a lot of crying because she "made a mess." Poor girl, but that was how she was supposed to learn, right? Peeing yourself makes you feel wet and makes a mess, and both those things make you cry. So accident #1 we'll call a productive accident. After some explanation about that, and a change to Princess panties and new pants (and a quick Clorox clean of the stool she was sitting on), we were back. 30 minutes later, music, lights, no pee pee. 24 minutes after that, we had something. But we weren't at the potty.

Crying, mess cleanup, and a change of clothes and we were back again. Another 2 trips and nothing until 15 minutes in, we had accident #3, right before bath time. So close, but no luck as we had our 3rd wet panties and pants set on our hands. That was enough for Day 1 of Potty Time. Day 2 didn't go much better (depending how you look at it).

Day 2 started the same with panties after nap. No accident after the first hour, and none after the second hour either. We approached 2.5 hours (or 5 music/light cycles) with no accidents. The problem was that she wasn't peeing at all! It was at the 3 hour mark, after dinner, that we threw in the towel (panty?) and slapped on a diaper so she could sit on the couch and watch Dora for 22 minutes without us worrying about her peeing on our furniture. The alternative, as suggested by Jes, was to cover our furniture in plastic like my grandma did, but we decided to go the diaper route.

Day 3 went the exact same way with her pushing 3 hours without peeing in the potty or her panties. And that brings us to day 4, which is today. Not sure how that's going to play out, or if Mommy is even going to try with me not home until after bedtime. We're convinced Kaylani just needs that first time to "get over the hump" and get the pee pee cues (with or without the watch). Our pediatrician recommended we get Kaylani potty trained well in advance of Baby #2's arrival, so we're working on it. We've still got 6 months or so, but at this rate, its not looking good...for any of us!

Does this count as potty training?

Kaylani's only 10 months old. That's young. We're nowhere near official potty training, which is good since we have a brand new box of diapers sitting in her closet. But tonight, Kaylani gave us a glimpse into the life of potty training...kinda.

We were getting ready for bathtime which consisted of Kaylani getting undressed down to her diaper and then racing Mommy or Daddy back to the bathroom. Once there, Daddy took off her diaper to get her ready for the bath, but had a nice little poop surprise. After a poopy Kaylani up on his lap, he put Kaylani down so she could stand next to the tub as he adjusted the water. All of a sudden, something new happened. Something unexpected. Something...wet.

As Kaylani was standing next to the tub, she proceeded to pee. Now, I might not be a girl, but I'm pretty sure that girls aren't supposed to pee standing up. In fact, isn't it the one thing that girls complain about? The fact that they CAN'T pee standing up? If that's it, then let me tell you, it can be done! Okay, so she may have peed all down her leg and made a big mess on the bath mat, but she peed standing up!

Needless to say, Kaylani got to spend a little extra time in the tub today getting her bottom half scrubbed down...twice. Maybe this is the start of potty training. We can take off her diaper and hold her over the toilet to see if she'll go. Then again, maybe it was just a fluke accident and it won't happen again. We're hoping it's a fluke accident, because if standing naked makes her pee, then we'll have to replace our bathmats with disposable pee mats. Oh well, at least it's the guest bathroom!