POTTY SUCCESS!!

WOOHOO!!! I think Emma may be potty trained!! :o) As I've mentioned before, she's been interested in the "big girl potty" for quite a while now....we were trying to be really careful not to push her before she was truly ready. She's been using the potty off and on since 15 months old, but never very consistently. She has been increasingly interested in the last few months, and so a few weeks ago I decided it was time to start doing some "research."

I read some things on the Internet and got some advice from other moms. Then looked ahead on the calendar and blocked out 3 days that we would be able to stay at home and be really intentional with "practicing." For those 3 days, we didn't leave the house. I set my sports watch timer to go off every 30 minutes...it became a game! Whenever she heard the beeping, we'd get all excited and silly, saying "It's potty time!" She loved it! I gave her as much juice as she would drink (which was a treat b/c she's used to only water and milk).....this helped provide lots of "opportunities" to practice. I bought an incentive chart at the teacher store and she gets stickers every time she goes. She's so proud of her sticker poster....when Brett got home from work one day, she brought him into the bathroom to show him! I like the poster too because it helps me keep track of when she has gone.

From all that I read and people I talked with, I decided "cold turkey" was the best method for Emma. She's been diaper-free for 4 days now (even at night) and hasn't had an accident in nearly 2 days. In fact, the last "accident" she had was partially my fault for not getting her to the potty fast enough....it happened as I was pulling her pants down standing in the bathroom. Anyway, I know this is probably TMI, but we're pretty excited around here! All you parents that have been through this already probably understand completely. :o)

Surely this is fairly common when potty training girls especially, but now that Emma is a "big girl" she ONLY wants to do "big girl" things! For example, just in these last few days, Emma has started resisting her bib, insisting to dress herself, wanting only "big girl" cups (not sippy cups), etc. Basically, now that she sees herself as a "big girl" she wants to do everything on her own. Whew! I think we've opened up a whole new can of worms! It's great to be done with diapers (hopefully) but I'm not sure if we're ready for all the other things that come along with this! :o)

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In other news, :o) Emma fell asleep in the strangest place a few days ago for one of her naps....on the floor in the corner of her room. It was pretty cute! She usually sits on the floor or in the rocking chair looking at books for a while before falling asleep. We're guessing she was reading over in this area when she became so tired that she just decided to cuddle up in the corner instead of walking all the way across the room back to her bed. Being a toddler is exhausting, you know!

What a great age! Brett & I are having so much fun with Emma right now & loving getting to watch our sweet, baby girl grow up! :o)