Potty Party Day

Today was Potty Party Day, aka, Potty Training Bootcamp. It started with a gift for little Maren to help inspire potty training happiness. Undies! The package of Elmo undies had Maren undressing in the kitchen to get those adorable little things on.... and then we waited for the excitement to begin.

The advice we were given was to pump her full of salty foods and liquids, and then practice running to the potty with lots of squealing and excitement to make the whole thing "fun!" So, that's what we did. After about two hours, nothing had happened which had me a bit concerned. I kept asking, "Maren, do you need to go potty?" to which her response was "NO!" - This is what gets me intro trouble! She senses I want something specific to happen, and it's already her main goal to do the exact opposite...

So suddenly, there was pee everywhere - and lots of it! (In preparation, we rolled up the living room carpet, and threw towels throughout the first floor.) To keep the momentum going in hopes that at some point we'd have success, we practiced running. We practiced sitting on the potty, and running and running and squealing and running. We got excited about the various Elmo undies... but to no avail. After four accidents and lots of salty snacks and a hefty load of liquids, both she and we were feeling a bit frustrated with the whole thing.

To give us all a break, she pulled on a diaper for nap so we could "start over" afterwards...

Right when I had given up hope... she woke up ready to begin again! All it took was for me to go potty and get an "aree-o" for actually peeing in the potty... And within about twenty minutes she had successfully peed in the potty three times! Three oreos, baby! She was diggin' it.

Halleluia, my friends!

And now it's 9:30 at night and she's awake in her crib, talking to herself for the last hour, undoubtedly still going from her sugar high today.

We'll see if this exciting trend continues. Every time I write something about my kids' latest accomplishments on this blog, it reverses itself. So, let me just say this: I'm sure this is just the beginning of a long road of running and squealing and towel-mopping and oreo-bribes and mopping the floor and celebrating the little successes in life.