Potty Training

I started this post about a week ago and had honestly meant to blog more while in the midst of the heavy-duty potty training, but just haven't had the time (and haven't prioritized it, either--some nights it was just easier to stare blankly at the TV than to blog).  So here's my potty training update--July 2nd to present.
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Baby Girl has been using the potty in the mornings and evenings for us every day, but had been resisting using the potty at the sitter's house.  After a discussion with the sitter, she agreed to start trying harder to get her to go and was successful the last few days of last week.  She suggested that we try putting her in panties this weekend (the July 4th weekend) and having her try every 15 minutes or so.  Because she's shown so much interest, we agreed.  This is my chronicle of how the weekend went.

Saturday

Woke up, ready to tackle the day.  We didn't have anything planned and could focus all of our energy on potty training.  We got Baby Girl into some panties, had a talk about how special they are and how she shouldn't go potty in them, and started the day.  She sat on the potty every 15-20 minutes and typically peed at least a little.  She did great all morning long!  She had one pee accident late in the morning, then we put her in a diaper for naptime.  We changed her back into her panties for the afternoon and had two more accidents then (once while talking on the phone to Papaw).  She still sat on the potty every 15-20 minutes and usually produced pee.  We used a sticker chart to record her progress and she ended up with about 15 stickers over the course of the day.  What a great first day of potty training!

Sunday

Woke up about 5 minutes before Grandma was supposed to arrive.  Papaw dropped Grandma off before heading off to a golf outing.  Day #2 has begun.  Baby Girl did fairly well in the morning again.  She didn't even fight us when we'd ask her to go potty.  I was beginning to think that this might actually be working...as long as we could always be there to remind her to use the potty every 15 minutes or so.  The Hubby and I went to go run in the afternoon and during that time, she had another accident.  And once we were back, we had her try to pee, which she did, but then she had two more accidents in the next 20 minutes.  And down goes my morale, thinking maybe she just wasn't ready for potty-training.

Monday

She did well.  We spent most of the day at our house and she was willing to go potty when we asked.  She only had a couple of accidents and I felt a lot better about our decision.

Tuesday-Friday

Tuesday we returned to the sitter's and I talked to her about our experiences over the weekend.  We'd brought Baby Girl in a pull-up just in case she needed to go while in the car, so the sitter left her in that.  We took a stash of pull-ups and panties and let the sitter decide what she wanted to do.  The week was, in a word, amazing.  Baby Girl didn't have any accidents and only woke up from nap wet one time.  She was still pooping in her pull-up in the morning (the reason we keep delivering her in pull-ups), but peeing in the potty regularly. The sitter bribes her with candy (Smarties) and Baby Girl is smart enough to differentiate between the sitter's house and ours, where we reward with stickers (and sometimes money).

Saturday

Spend all day at a friend's house while The Hubby was helping build a shed.  Baby Girl did really well going potty and only had one accident during dinner.  I don't know if she woke up dry because I wasn't there when she got up.

Sunday

Went to my hometown to get photos taken for Baby Girl's 2nd birthday (eep!).  Stopped to let her try to use the potty on the way down once--we had the portable potty with us.  She didn't pee, but it ended up being a good solution for the future.  She went potty in the car when we were done with the pictures (was wearing panties the whole time) and did pretty well.  Again, I wasn't there when she got up from nap so I don't know if she got up dry or not (and no one else seems to think this is significant...).  She pooped in her panties later in the day but otherwise was accident-free.

Monday & Tuesday (July 11th and 12th)

Did great at the sitter's again.  She poops in her pull-up in the morning, then gets panties on after that, gets a diaper or pull-up for naptime, then panties again after that until bedtime.  She's going potty whenever someone asks and is also prompting the sitter to take her potty.  She doesn't ask us often, but we're also a little nervous to let her go too long.  The sitter lets her go and has concluded that she can hold it for awhile now.  I'm actually feeling pretty confident that she's really potty training and will be at least daytime pee-trained by the time she turns two.  Wow.  Amazing.

Wednesday (today)

Not a horrible day, but not the best, either.  Pooped in her pull-up in the morning.  Pooped in her panties in the afternoon.  Peed in panties at lunch.  :(  Enter frustration and uncertainty.

I honestly think I'm feeling so uncertain because she's so darn young.  Who expects their child to be ready to potty-train before they even turn 2?  So when she shows any signs that she's not getting it, I question if she's truly ready.  We've gotten this far, though, and will keep pushing through the slight regression.  We'll get there.  Next thing to truly tackle, though, is getting her to poop in the potty.  If we catch her getting ready to poop, she stops pushing and then can't (won't) push on the potty again.  We worry about getting her constipated.  The sitter (who has been right about what we should do so far) suggested we let her run around all day without panties or anything.  Apparently kids won't poop on the floor.  So it'll either get her to hold it or get her to poop on the potty.  It might be worth a shot.