Adventures in Pottytime

Bea has started the potty adventure. You can stop reading here if you don't have any interest in poop and pee talk. This topic shifted from gross to completely fascinating when I had kids of my own. Without the personal experience of changing stinky diapers and the motivation to one day live in a home without a diaper pail... I wouldn't have had much interest in the subject. So, if you keep reading... I'm going to talk about gross things. Turn back now if you need to. You have been forewarned!

The Preparation:
Bea has been doing morning poops on her little potty for several months now. I started putting her on her potty while she eats breakfast and that developed into a pretty regular routine. I had noticed that she usually pooped after or while eating and breakfast was a motivation for her to be still for long enough to sit on a potty. During this time she also started noticing when she would pee into the potty too.

A few months ago, I tried a stint of no diaper to see what would happen. She didn't catch on to the whole thing very fast, so I decided to go back to diapers and try again later. But, one thing that came of that time was her ability to stop her pee.

Recently she had also been very proud of the fact that she can pull on her pants by herself. She practiced for about a month and really had to work at figuring out how to reach behind her and pull her pants up over her bottom. It was quite amusing to watch her tug with all her might, determined to do it on her own. Whenever anyone would offer to help her she would yell, "No. By sef!"

With good language skills, an awareness of poop and pee and some experience controlling her poop and pee, and the ability to pull up her pants, I thought she was ready for another try at no diaper.

My goals were:
1. Not to make a big deal about it. Be comfortable with where she is in her learning.
2. Make a clear distinction that there are no diapers while awake so that she can truly learn the potty skills she needs whenever the urge arises!
3. Be willing to work with her, dropping other tasks to help her get to the potty quickly.

After a month of experimenting, I think Bea has done great. She knows how to tell us when she needs to pee and if we encourage her to do her morning poop, she is usually fine for the rest of the day. There have been some moments... but all in all, Bea is on her way and mom prefers a few wet clothes to constant diaper changes.