11w2d Preggo and Potty Training

This week was a hibernating week.  Not only because the temperatures were out-of-this-world hot (107+ degrees with the heat index), but also because it has been the "Revenge of the Morning Sickness" for me.  Out of nowhere, I started feeling completely gross all day long.  I can barely stomach anything and I feel that since I am almost done with my first trimester, the morning sickness is trying to rear its ugly head with a vengeance before it runs out of time.  It picked a good week though, because I was planning on staying holed up inside anyway.

Here are some pictures from this morning at 11w2d pregnant:

Abby has been full-time potty training since Wednesday, so that has been the main focus of this week.  She has only had a handful of accidents and I am so proud of her!  She hasn't had an accident in the last two days, has gone through her naps and bedtime with no wetting, and she really seems to be getting the hang of letting us know she has to go in a timely manner (i.e., not holding it too long).  The next step is to get her used to wearing her undies with her regular clothes because up until this point she has just had a naked booty with a shirt or just undies on.  I hope the transition goes smoothly for her and we can be done with diapers completely.

I got a lot of my ideas for my potty training approach from a YouTube mommy of five boys named JPSUESS.  Here is the video I watched and took notes from:

I bought Abby a potty seat that goes on top of a regular toilet seat, a step stool from IKEA, size 3T Gerber training undies, and that is all the equipment we needed!

We have used the following approach to potty training (DISCLAIMER--lots of poo/pee talk below):

Day #1--completely diaper free; bring child to potty every 15 minutes so they can learn that that is the place they need to go to the bathroom (vs their diaper or undies); give tons of praise, do a happy dance, and/or high five every time they go to the bathroom in the potty.  If your child has an accident, don't use negative language, just let them know it is OK but that next time they need to go the bathroom in the potty.

Day #2--same as Day #1, except extend the time between taking your child to the bathroom to every 30 minutes unless they indicate otherwise; on this day we had a bowel movement accident because Abby was too busy playing to let me know she had to go, so when she came to get me to show me what had happened, I told her "it's OK but next time your poopy goes in the potty, OK?" and we used toilet paper to pick up the accident and put it in the toilet where it "belongs."  I then had Abby wave goodbye to her poopy as she flushed the toilet.

Day #3--completely diaper free; let your child let you know when they have to go; if they haven't gone for a while, tell them "Let's go potty!"  Don't ask them if they have to go because 9 times out of 10 your toddler will say "no" whether they have to go or not; continue to heap on the praise every time they go to the bathroom in the potty.

Day #4--this is today, and Abby woke up dry, went straight to the potty first thing in the morning and has told me every time she needed to go since then.  I am getting her completely dressed today, so hopefully we can continue this trend and have a smooth transition to using the potty while fully dressed.

I am only doing the verbal rewards because I think that physical rewards and potty charts can make things a little confusing for kids (especially younger kids).  I have heard so many times that if you give them a treat (M&Ms, chocolate chips, etc.) for going potty, they learn to expect it so that two things can happen: 1) they want a treat every time they go potty and if you don't have one to give to them=potential meltdown and 2) they can learn to manipulate the system so that they will pee a little, hold it, and then come back 5 minutes later to pee again, all in an effort to earn two treats as opposed to one!  Smart little cookies!

Anyway, I have a date with a pedicure chair and a gossip magazine today, so I am going to go get ready for the pampering.

I hope everyone has a great week!