All About The Smiths: I'm a Big Kid Now!!

The title might have given it away...but Taylor is potty trained!!! We are so excited for her and don't really even know how it happened! We have been working with her on it for about a month or two. We would put her in underwear during the day sometimes but she would usually end up peeing in them or pooping in them. She would do good somedays and other days was just not interested at all. So for the most part she still stayed in diapers. I guess about 3 weeks ago when I was at work Will had her in underwear all day and she did pretty good. So I decided...why not...let's give it a try and be real serious about trying to get her potty trained. That next week it was kind of off and on whether she would go in the potty or not, but she didn't seem to have very many accidents. So we kept trying. We used pull-ups for about a week and when we realized that she wasn't peeing in the pull-ups, we switched to big-girl underwear. She hasn't had an accident in over a week and a half!! She wears a diaper for her nap and to sleep in at night, but as soon as she wakes up she asks for it to come off. I am contributing this success to a lot of different things, but here are 4 major ones...

1. Taylor loves stickers! So as an incentive, she got a sticker (or 2 or 3, whatever she wanted) every time she peed or pooped in the potty. She would either put them on herself or on a chart we have on the wall. She would always ask for stickers so I would tell her if she would pee or poop in the potty then she could have some stickers! She has stopped asking for stickers every time now, but occasionally she still wants a sticker when she uses the potty.

2. Even more than stickers...Taylor loves to wash her hands/play in the water at the sink. So it may sound crazy...but I wouldn't let her wash her hands unless she used the potty, or at least tried to use to potty.

3. When we started using the pull-ups with Taylor I showed her the princess pictures on the front and the little stars. I told her that the princesses would be very sad if she peed on them and that the stars would go away. Anytime she did accidently pee in the pull-up she would be very sad that the stars had went away. We didn't use very many pull-ups mainly because I didn't want to pay for them. Kimberly had given me some that Abigail had outgrown and wasn't using anymore a few months ago but we just never did use them. I guess they did the job for the short time we did use them.

4. This is probably the biggest thing of all that helped...For a few days Taylor was doing really good about peeing in the potty but she would still poop in her underwear. That was really getting old. Will decided to implement the rule that Taylor could have chocolate milk if she would poop in the potty. She knows still that she does not get chocolate milk unless she poops in the potty! I think this was the biggest help of all for her. And I have to give Will credit for the idea!

I never did think Taylor would be potty trained so quickly, but boy am I glad. I am sure that we will still have accidents down the road, but for now we are doing really good. I can't believe she is even big enough to be potty-trained! She is such a great little girl most of the time. She loves to play with baby dolls and bottles. She loves to get dressed up and wear her play jewelry. She is also always singing a song. Her favorite's are Jesus Loves Me and Twinkle Twinkle Little Star. Before Valentine's day we made cupcakes together and she had so much fun (pictures below!). There have been a few days here lately where I have been able to take her places just me and her. They are few and far between, but I enjoy those times with her so much. I can't wait until she is older and can go shopping with me or we can go out for lunch just the two of us. She is such a beautiful little girl and I am anxious to see what God has in store for her!

My big girl on the potty!!