Entering Unchartered Territory

September 18, 2008

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Sarah is growing up right before our very eyes....I cannot believe she will be 22 months on Saturday....where does the time go? Seems like yesterday we were holding her for the very first time!

These last couple of months we have realized she is no longer a baby.....she is counting, learning colors and abc's....she is talking in small sentences and as I have said.....constantly repeating everything we do and say...she doesn't miss a trick. She also has a new infatuation with baby dolls...she always has one and she likes to feed her, change her, and swaddle her in a blanket....I hope she is this good when her sister enters the picture!!!

There is one area that we haven't ventured yet....and after last weeks drama at the doctors office, I realized that traumatic test could have been avoided....I think it is time to enter the unchartered territory of....Potty Training!

Now it has been a long time....about 8 years to be exact, and remember, the last time I went down this road it was with a little boy....and let me tell you, it was not easy. Nick was a little older when we started with him, but Sarah is giving us a lot of indications that she is ready to make the move.

So, I am putting this out there....I would love to hear from you all....what worked for your little one? Any tips or ideas?

I am looking forward to your suggestions...

Have a good night!

38 comments:

Kim said...

Love the picture of Sarah.. she is darling..
I would give you some tips.. but is has been sooo long ago.. I can't remember..
Hope all goes well. and please post the tips.. I will need them one day..
Hugs..
Have a Great Evening..

Shell in your Pocket said...

Well, every child is different. BUT, my son was hard but my two girls were much easier! She is so sweet and I have a "Sarah", too!

I had no special technique...just mm's when there was success!

-Sandy Toes

a Tonggu Momma said...

What worked for our Tongginator? You mean other than waiting until she was three? Our potty training process was Quite The Experience. I once wrote a blog post entitled "The Ebb and Flow of Pee," but the husband wouldn't allow me to post it.

Kellyann said...

Fun times lie ahead for you.
Just take it easy at first and take her cues.

Becky said...

Love the pic of Sarah! She is adorable!

Well, this is what worked for both of my girls. I started changing their diapers in the bathroom (per peds suggestion) so they would connect the going in their diaper to the potty. I would spend about 1 month taking them to the potty every hours or so. It was hard with the diaper but I didn't use pull-ups as IMO they just confuse them. After doing that for a month, I switched to regular panties and did not go back. With Sophia, I did use the thicker training panties but not for long. We didn't go anywhere for about a week once I decided to make the switch to panties and both were trained within that week. They were both 28 months when they trained. Good luck!

Becky

Anonymous said...

Your little Sarah is so cute. I love reading about her as I have a little one about to turn 22 months as well. And she's about ready to be potty trained. Well, she's really way overdue I think. I'm reluctant because my older daughter did not PT till almost four (!!) and really it was just when she was ready and had nothing to do with me.

My little one is ready and I'm not certain where to go from here. I'll read the comments posted with interest.

missy said...

I am just now getting caught up on all my blogs. I didn't know you were a cancer survivor. You amaze me!!! God works wonders every single day. You are one strong lady. I am so happy for your good health, now.

Sarah is so darn cute! As for potty training...well, unfortunately we ended up having to pull out the bribes. I know, I know...shameful! : )

Good luck!

day by day said...

Bribery, bribery, and more bribery....oops! I mean rewards. lol!

Love the picture of Sarah twirling in her dress!

Have a great night, Lisa!!

Shari said...

That is the most adorable photo EVER!

A grandpa told me to use positive words. Instead of saying, "Don't wet your pants." Say "Keep your pants dry."
It totally HELPED! To this day when I ask Amelia if she needs to go potty she'll say, "No, I'm keeping them dry."
Also don't get discouraged if she shows a lot of interest and then changes her mind. Amelia was nearly trained at 2 and then she decided she didn't want to do it anymore. We started completely over shortly before she was 3 and it was MUCH easier.

Jodee said...

I am in the same boat -- I have only potty trained a boy! I will be anxious to read everyone's comments since potty training will be in our near future too!

Sarah and Kamree are so much alike! Kamree has a new baby doll that we now drag everywhere with us, along with her very dirty lovey blanket "B"!

Belinda said...

Hey Lisa,

I will be reading your comments on this one.. I have no idea where to begin with Elise.. She got a potty chair for her birthday she turned 2 on the Aug 30th...
Belinda

Football and Fried Rice said...

I am interested in hearing others' comments - so I, too, can learn with you!!!

Jboo said...

The one thing that really worked for us with Maddy is that we said Barney (yes, the purple dinosaur) had to go potty and she would take him and pretend to have him go potty and then she'd go herself. She still sometimes has stuffed animals go potty before she does --a little weird, I know! Have a fun weekend!
jan

Briana's Mom said...

I am right where you are girl! I have the potty seat and I have been trying to get Bri comfortable just sitting on it, but she hasn't actually gone in it yet. I am reading the suggestions too! I have never potty trained and I have no idea what I am doing! LOL!

Shell in your Pocket said...

Lisa...thanks for the ideas on my blog! I have a hay square on my porch...that is so funny you wrote that. But, maybe I could do it there...I am just worried that "little Hands" will be picking at the hay... this is where they play and bike ride.

Love the idea...have a great weekend!
-Sandy toes

Steffie B. said...

I just put Sophia right on the big potty with a ring. Got her a step stool....and just passed on the other potty seat. I got her one, but she never used it. She mastered the number 1 quickly, number was a bit more tricky....she would wait until nap time and go in her pull up....we then decided she would not go to bed until she did her business! lol It worked after about a week....the other thing i didn't do was get upset about it.....just go with the flow.....lol....she'll master it....but in her own time. Keep us posted....potty stories can be the funniest! ;)

Have a great weekend....
Hugs,
Steffie

Anonymous said...

That is a great picture of Sarah twirling~ so precious.

Potty training~ good times!!! We did the reward (or I should say the queen mother- nana, did the reward) at first we did it each time she would sit on the potty she would get one mm and each time she went potty she would get two. After she started 'getting it down pat' we only gave her 2 when she went. It worked with alot of reminding!
Good luck!

Have a great weekend,

Krista

Anonymous said...

my daughter potty trained soooo fast - my boys took forever.
My only advice - I went cold turkey with the boys - took aways pampers completely and gave them underwear - there were many accidents, but it was the only way they learned.
My daughter - I just introduced her to the toilet - said 'this is where you go potty now' and BAM - she was potty trained.
girls ---- so much easier.

Amy said...

Goodmorning!!

What a beautiful big girl you have!

I have 3 kids... 2 girls and 1 boy. And all of them were different. My 3rd girl is very head strong.. and we had to work potty training as it somehow being her idea....

Both my girls loved having a "Potty Chart". So we decked out the chart with their picture and a picture of the toy that they received when all the little squares had stickers on them.

With my son, he wasn't so into that. I just let him run around naked, and he didn't like the feeling of have pee run down his leg...soo he was really quick to train.

A common vein tho with all 3 was, no pull-ups. They would just pee in them like a diaper. So it was either nothing on or underwear.

Hope this helps! I still have the potty chart if you would like me to email it to ya!

Blessings!

Amy

M,R,J1,J2 said...

I don't know if boys are harder to potty train than girls - I think people start to train girls earlier and that's why it seems they're easier to potty train.
I used to let Jarod be in the buff (watching very carefully) and when I noticed he had to go, I quickly put him on the toilet.
I'm sure Sarah will get the hang of it quickly.
Have a nice weekend!
Michaela

Chasing Dreams Photography said...

Adorable pictures!!!!! Well let's see what worked. Justin(23) my little tank went for the candy. Tyler(18) took forever (he was almost 4) nothing worked he just had to decide when he was done going in his pullup.Chris(25) always the negotiator had me under contract. If he trained I bought him a REALLY big toy. It worked and we were all very happy! Kenny (20) was all about the costumes. As long as I kept buying batman underwear he was happy to wear them. Livi was in for the money. Everytime she went on the potty I gave her a penny, She kept negotiating a better deal and before we knew it the kid was racking in about 20.00 a day. I think she will make an awesome CFO one day. Addison was so easy. She said I want to go on the potty and that was it. No bribing. She just did it and pretty much stayed dry at night too. I hate potty training and after 6 you would think I would be good at it...I stink at it. Just pay her off LOL

Kayce said...

I have no experience with a girl, so I'll be watching to see how it goes for ya!

Laura said...

I love the picture of Sarah. So carefree.

Our trick with Emma was to give her a smartie or M&M everytime she went to the bathroom. We would also make a very bid deal with it and do the Pee-Pee dance. "Emma went Pee-Pee on the Pawwwtee, Emma went Pee-Pee on the Pawwtee, the pawwwwtee, the pawwtee, yeah". Now that I think of it, the three of us in our tiny bathroom singing probably looked ridiculous but it worked.

Emma will be 4 in December and just about 6 weeks ago, she still wouldn't wipe herself so. We told her that she wouldn't be able to start pre-school until she started wiping herself because the teacher wouldn't. She still wouldn't so, we started bribing her with $$$.

Everytime she goes to the bathroom, wipes herself and washes her hands by herself, she gets a quarter. It must be working because I am going broke.

Don't push it, it will come when she is ready. Good Luck!!!

xoxox,
Laura

Rebecca Lily said...

Potty training!!! Ugh!

Well, for the girls, we stayed home and I just let them run around in underwear for a few days. They all got the hang of it pretty quick.

Now, can you post tips for potty training BOYS, because I am having issues there!!! LOL.

The picture of Sarah is beautiful. I love how you popped the pink in her dress!!

xoxo

Susan said...

Wow... my youngest will be 23 months next Saturday. It just seems that Sarah is so much bigger than my Alexia. Happy Birthday!

Norma said...

Girls are great. Get a potty.......or one of those seats that fit over the toilet and just let her get comfortable with it. Set a schedule.......in am, after meals and at night. Big girl panties and lots of praise. Mine did it by 2-2 1/2 almost by themselves.Didn't use candy to reward.
She is a doll. Tell her it is so she can be the big sister because the baby will need diapers.

Buzzings of a Queen Bee! said...

Lisa, you are so brave! My daughter just turned two and we have talked to her about potty training but haven't done anything about it yet...she just doesn't seem interested. I will be very interested to hear what others say about this. Also, I just read a good post at rocksinmydryer about this. She has potty trained four kids so she knows what she's talking about! There is a link to her on my blog if you need it. :) Have a great weekend!
Carrie

Heather said...

I love this picture!!

My only suggestion...m&ms.

Actually, with Em, she trained very quickly, one day and that was all she wrote. Now, Miss Hannah seems to be ont he road to giving us a run for our money. She loves the m&m concept but not the precursor to gaining the reward, hmmm. I think I need some new tactics too!

Have a great weekend.
Love,
Heather

Lucy said...

I have no tips for you as my Magnolia is 23 months and showing no signs yet. :) I do want to say that I love the picture of Sarah twirling in her adorable dress!

Shari said...

I wish I had some advice but I got SO lucky!!! Kelsey decided on her 2nd birthday that she was going to be a "big girl" and the rest was history!!! To this date I have only had to clean up 2 accidents!!!! Not many people can say that! I consider myself VERY lucky!

{oc cottage} said...

That is THE cutest picture!!!

m ^..^

Buzzings of a Queen Bee! said...

Hi again...I am glad you visited rocksinmydryer, she is one of my favorite bloggers (along with you!). Let me know know it goes when you start the process!
Carrie

Lisa said...

My only advice is to be fully committed and consistent. Ellie could have been potty trained way earlier then I did but I wasn't ready. I wasn't ready to be in the grocery store and stop to find a bathroom. Finally, once I was ready we just did it. Both kids were potty trained at 2 years 11 months-- I had to be able to go to their 3 year check up potty trained ; )

Our Complete Family said...

Oh lordy! Good luck girlfriend! I bet Sarah will do GREAT since you said she's showing signs of wanting to do it! I lucked out and Bryce pretty much decided one day that he just wanted to. He was about 2 1/2. So you know what that means, right?!? Caroline is due to be my tricky one!!! xoxo

Michelle said...

I often lurk, rarely comment but here goes: I posted on this recently with my daughter, child #5. 12 years ago when I went to train child #1, I read about a book in Parent*ng Magazine -- T*ilet Training in Less Than a Day by Dr. Azrin. It was written in the 1960's but is still available (says something). Anyway, when you read this book, you realize that it is all very logical and is based entirely on positive reinforcement. In a nutshell, your child teaches a doll that can wet a series of steps. At the end you go to reward the doll and say, "Wow, maybe you could try this and you would get ...." I used M&M's - one at a time! You also make a "Friends who Care" list that includes everyone from Grandma to Elmo and keep picking new names off the list -- "Elmo is SO PROUD of you!!" The book says it should take about 4 hours to train your child. FIVE children later, I can swear by it!! My friends laugh at me -- BUT I have trained each of my children in a day!! I can count on one hand the number of accidents any child had after that initial weekend. I will tell you that you MUST say "good-bye" to diapers and NEVER go back. At the time of training I introduced Pull-ups as "nighttime underwear." They had not seen Pull-ups before. Personally, I did not want to ruin all that I had gained during the day with nightime accidents. When Pull-ups are dry every morning, I simply put them away. One son did wear pull-ups overnight for a while but the others (4 boys, 1 girl) were able to say "good-bye" to them fairly quickly. I trained each of mine as soon as they turned 2 (my Oct bday son I trained before 2). I always trained in good weather so they could easily pull on/off their clothing. I trained in the kitchen and gave them my 100% attention on training day - no diversions. Well, just my 2cents but it's worked for me!! Good luck!!

Ella Marie Boutique said...

Sarah is so cute! Good luck on your China adoption!
Sarah
ellamarieboutique.blogspot.com, designer clothes that support adoptions

Alyson and Ford said...

She is just beyond beautiful!
Enjoy the special moments with her (even if it is potty training!)!

We are enjoying a much needed one hour break....
Time passes very quickly, doesn't it?

Alyson
LID 01/27/06
DOR 08/12/08
Travel 9/11/08

Anonymous said...

i always say "it isn't potty training, it's mommy training". think about when you go potty...after you eat! so, every time you eat, wait 5 minutes then put her on the pot. if you give her a drink...same thing. let her see how you use the pot. i have also heard of mommies who set the timer for 60-90 minutes. one son would read/get read to on the pot. dr.suess is good here! dont use pull-ups...they are counter-productive; duh! obviously, when you do get into panties, dont go out of the house. when you are ready to venture out, fold a towel on the car seat to save it. i have two boys, and this worked well for them. (actually, they never pooped in the car, even in diapers; and never had accidents. we also carried a pee bucket...large margarine container, in the car. boys can just point and shoot! also, learn where the bathroom is in EVERY store you frequent. always visit bathroom before leaving home. you will find your own groove! its not rocket science...but it may as well be!! blessings...mrs.k.