{Potty Training}

4 weeks ago today I decided it was time to start potty training Eliana. Every time she went #2 in her diaper she would run to me and proudly announce that she went potty and would point to her diaper. Since she understood that she was going potty in her diaper, I figured that she would be able to understand how to go potty in the potty chair. AND I was running low on diapers for her and didn't feel like having to buy another pack! :)

 I hadn't read any books on the subject of potty training, only a couple of blog posts- this was one I found on pinterest (BabySavers.com) and this one is from a friend of mine (Four Girls & A Daddy) so I wasn't sure what "method" to follow or what was the best way to potty train my 2 year old.

For starters, I purchased a potty chair and a book on potty training {for Eliana} from Amazon.
Here is link to the potty chair I ordered- Baby Bjorn Potty Chair and here is the link to the book I bought for Eliana- The Potty Book for Girls

I ordered that specific potty chair because the lady from the first blog post recommended it and it's super easy to clean, it's small, and it's convient and easy to travel with.

When the potty chair arrived, we let Eliana open up the box and she got really excited when she saw her "potty." She wanted to sit on it right away, but we told her that she could only sit on it if she was actually going to go potty. {I think she might of thought it was just a really cool pink chair :)} At first she was pumped about being able to sit on the potty chair but then after about a day of that, she started crying if I asked her if she needed to go potty or if I set her on the potty chair. I didn't want to force her into going potty, so we just took a break and didn't talk about the potty or sit on it for about 2-3 weeks.

On the Sunday before we started potty training, we picked up some Disney princess big girl panties for Eliana, but we told her she could only wear them if she went potty in the big girl potty. She seemed to understand and wasn't too happy that she couldn't wear the panties over her pants. :)
 I decided to reintroduce the potty chair to Eliana and she didn't seem to mind sitting on
it, in fact, she almost enjoyed it. I was hoping this was a good sign!

We officially starting potty training on Wednesday April 10th, 2013. Like I said before, I didn't know what the best way was to PT Eliana, so I just decided to go "all-natural" and let her run around buck naked. I knew we would have accidents and I knew I would have to clean up some bodily fluids, but I was hoping that if she saw when she peed or pooped on the floor that she would make the connection that those fluids coming out of her needed to go in the potty, not on the floor.

On day 1, she went potty in the potty chair 3 times! She had about 3 or 4 accidents as well, but I was so
proud of her for actually going in the potty chair!
Each day it seemed to get better, but the first 4 days were definitely the hardest and most trying. She would still wear a diaper at nap times and at bedtime. During the first two weeks, if we needed to go out or for nap time I started putting a pull-up on her, but we called them her "panties"...I didn't want her thinking it was just another diaper that she could pee in. She did really well with keeping her pull-ups dry, so I actually started letting her wear her real panties at nap time and she has woken up dry every time! So awesome!

As far as a reward system goes, every time she went potty, she was able to put up a sticker on her potty chart and she received a jelly bean. We're on week 3 of potty training and we're still sticking with the sticker chart because she seems to really enjoy seeing all of her stickers on the fridge.

Here are pictures of her sticker chart.

Today is the start of Week 4 and Eliana wears her panties all day now. She usually tells me if she has to go to potty, but if I know that she hasn't gone in a while or she is really into playtime- I'll ask her if she needs to go and she will tell me either yes or no and either sit on the potty or keep playing. We haven't had an accident in public yet, and for that I am quite thankful!


I'm so proud of my little girl for putting up with me during this potty training adventure. :)
I sure do love her!