I realized the other day that I never actually updated you on our potty training issues.

You’ll be glad to know that baby girl is officially potty trained. Full out. All the way. For real.

The girl goes to the potty by herself without us having to remind her, she’ll tell us if she needs to go when we’re not home, and she’s doing pretty good in the clean-up process as well.

And you know what we did?

Nothing.

All of you were absolutely right. She did it when she was ready.

For all the encouraging, rewarding, praise, and potty games we played, in the end, she simply would go when she actually wanted to. That turned into her going when she needed to. And eventually, she was able to switch over to being diaper-free all the time.

Even at night.

Really, when it was time for her to start preschool, it was suggested to us by the school that we bring her diaper-free. We warned them that she wasn’t fully potty trained, but they said to try it anyway and they’d deal with the accidents. So, that’s just what we did. And amazingly she did really good. There were really very few accidents considering our progress beforehand.

She’s definitely proud of herself and loves that we’re proud too. The first few weeks of preschool, she’d say things like, “Did I make you proud?” or “I had NO accidents today mommy!”

I love that my baby girl has finally achieved potty training success. Of course, this means she’s officially a big girl. In her eyes anyway.

After much time spent on attempting to potty train and many ups and downs, we have been having regular success this past week. Baby girl has actually used the potty at least once each day. She even went and sat down by herself without me or her dad having to make her sit. Major improvements, folks.

However, she has this little thing that she doesn’t want us to really celebrate it or tell her we’re proud of her. It’s the strangest thing. Here’s how it goes.

Me: Good job love! You did it!
Her: NOOOOOO! I DIDN’T WAAAANT TO DO IT!

Seriously, what in the world is that about?

My child has to be the only child who does NOT want to be praised when she’s done something good. I’ve read all the potty training tips out there. Believe me, if a link says “potty training” in it, I click it. And they all say the same thing.

Praise, praise, praise.

I get it. It makes sense. If I tell her she did something good and that I’m proud, then she’s more likely to do it again or want to do so.

But, apparently, that doesn’t fly with my daughter. I can’t make out why.

The important thing, though, is that she continue to use the potty on a daily basis so that eventually we can move on to always using it. So far this past week, even without too much praise, she’s shown that she’s getting the hang of it.

Perhaps she just likes to complain in the process of doing so.

As always, any input on past experiences are appreciated. I’d love to hear your thoughts in the comments below.

You might have heard of the book Everyone Poops by Taro Gomi. Or maybe not. If you haven’t, check it out here.

I first heard of this book from a previous co-worker. She was a 1st grade teacher and is very much into literacy. She has a wealth of information in her brain regarding teaching children to read, various books, fun activities, you name it. I’ve been trying to get her to start a blog so she can share this information with all us mamis out there, but she’s a little hesitant still.

She suggested Everyone Poops to me for several reasons:

1. She thinks the book is funny and cute.
2. She thought my toddler daughter might like it.
3. We were starting the very early stages of potty training.

We’ve read the book with my daughter a few times. I have to admit that it was a little weird to me at first, but then I embraced the silliness of it all. I mean, how can you not laugh at, “A one-hump camel makes a one-hump poop and a two-hump camel makes a two-hump poop… Only kidding!”

The other night my daughter asked me to read it for her.

We sat down on the couch and as I read the title and author’s name out loud to her, I could see that she was studying the cover of the book.

(image from Amazon.com)

She then said, “An apple poops???!!!”

I started to laugh and told her, “Well, no baby. You see, we eat an apple and then it goes in your tummy and then it comes out your bunda.” (Bunda is what we’ve come to call the butt.)

As soon as I started the sentence, I knew I was giving way too much information that wasn’t going to make sense. I saw it in her face. I swear I could see the wheels turning in her little head trying to figure out what I was saying.

She looked up at me, confused as ever and repeated, “An apple poops? Hahaha…NO, that’s so silly! Hee hee hee”

Indeed it is, baby girl.

image by lodigs