Big Girl

Why is this girl smiling?

Because for the last several weeks, we have officially been diaper-free.

We first started potty-training back in April, when she would use the potty before getting in the bath. Then, in May, we tried the "bare bottom" method. This was instantly successful... for a day. For the next 2-3 days, she made messes all over the house and refused (like kicking, screaming, thrashing refused) to sit on the toilet.

Not good.

So....I determined that now was not the time, and we didn't bring it up again until end of July-ish. At that time, we tried again, but this time instead of going bare-bottomed I went straight to cotton panties. I also bribed with a piece of chocolate every time we had a successful potty trip. Bam! Within a week, we had no more wet accidents...but a really constipated kid. This pattern continued for several more weeks. She continued to "hold it" for several days, before she'd dirty her panties, be immediately remorseful... and then hold it for another 48 hours.

What finally got us over the hurdle?

I told her that princesses, like the ones on her panties, didn't like to get dirty.

Apparently, she's highly considerate of the desires of her princesses. The accidents stopped almost immediately.

In the meantime, I had been putting her in pull-ups at night because while she stayed 100% dry during naptimes, nighttimes were hit or miss. In the last week, however, she's kept herself dry every single night. So maybe the night-training took care of itself?

Either way, my body thanks me for not having to get up and down off the floor multiple times a day to change diapers, and I'm enjoying three diaper-free months before the next one comes along. Likewise, Mia enjoys her new "big girl" status, as well as the freedom to pick out clean underwear each day (the girl is a bit of a control-freak).

Win-win.