I have overcome.  Yes.  I am good.

Autumn has been “trained” for a while now, but I was just musing over the process today and thought I would write about it.

Let me preface this by saying that both of my boys were potty trained in a weekend.  Less than two days.  I waited until they were 150% ready (close to three years old), showed signs of readiness like discussing pee and poopy, knowing beforehand when they were going to go, and being dry all night long.  One Saturday I took them for their Batman and Spiderman undies, respectively, and by Sunday the diapers were gone.  Without nary an accident.  Easy.  No kidding.

So along comes child #3.  A girl.  So I figure I’ll do the same thing.  Wait until she’s ready.  So I wait.  And wait.  And wait. At one point we decided her husband would have to teach her to use the potty, she had ZERO interest.

So we took the bull by the horns, as it were, and made the first move.  She’s about 2.5 years old.  Dora panties.  Rockin’, dude.  She’s gonna love this – another weekend session and surely she’ll be trained too.

She wanted nothing to do with them.  Or the potty.  So we stopped after 1/2 hour of trying (I’m NOT spending six months teaching a child to use the potty – it either happens or it doesn’t, more power to moms that spend years doing it, I’m lazy). So months pass, and her third birthday passes.  I scoff at the websites that say girls train faster than boys!  This is reason #472 that I don’t read parenting books or rely on websites for information!   Anyways, one day she decided she wanted to use the big potty, and don her glorious purple Dora panties.  And it was good.

And then it wasn’t.  She decided she didn’t want to.  It’s too inconvenient to go potty in the big potty.  It’s easier to go in a diaper.  So we had to put our feet down and insist.  Ugh, how I dreaded what appeared to be a long road ahead for us.

Well, it wasn’t.  Bribery and kitchen timers and panties with a favorite cartoon character.  That’s all that you need.   And this remote control.

So we set the timer for two hours.  Donned the Dora or Princess panties.  Taped a “sticker chart” to the bathroom door and every time she successfully uses the potty, she puts a sticker on.  When the sheet is filled up (about a week), she gets to go to the dollar store and pick out some toys.  Jackpot.  It worked.

So, all in all it only took a couple of weeks for her to really get it “down”.  We’re continuing on with the bribery and timer, though… just to make sure!

The funny problem?  Now she thinks she’s not supposed to go potty unless and until the timer goes off…