ALY ALLEN | THE BLOG

so i thought i'd share a few things i learned during my year long potty training experience. i say year-long because i tried last July and it was just not working. ever since then, while we weren't actively potty-training, i kept talking with her about how she really needs to start going in the potty soon and how big girls don't wear diapers and how she can go to preschool if she goes in the potty, etc. but i never got up the courage to really buckle down and try again. her third birthday seemed like the perfect milestone, benchmark, whatever you want to call it. besides, for the past few months she'd been telling me that she'd start going in the potty in may, when she turned three. so i held her to it: her third birthday came, and we started going in the potty the next day. and as i shared with you monday , it totally stuck! i can say that because we're a week later and she goes in the potty every single time , let's me know she has to g...

oh hey... thought i'd pop in to let you know that this darling girl is POTTY TRAINED!?! like, 100% totally and completely potty trained. i have found myself at least 30 times saying "thank You Lord" & "praise You Jesus" in complete awe. meaning, i have no idea how it happened... it just did. all Him, not me. we went from this [the very first day] where she's crying for a diaper!?! to loving her big-girl status.  undies-wearing, potty-going, prize-getting is very fun :) she even wore undies to her birthday party. we brought her little potty in the car  [still hasn't warmed up to the big potty, at home or in public, but that will come] best part is, i figured we'd do daytime and nighttime all at once and it totally worked! 4 out of 5 nights have been completely dry. to say i am relieved and thankful and excited is a HUGE understatement. [read my last experience with trying to potty train when she wa...

i know that lots of you who are about to read this are going to be very disappointed. you'll tell me that she's definitely old enough, definitely ready, and i need to just push through. but honestly, she has not gone in the potty successfully ONCE in two whole days. she would literally rather go on the floor. that's just not sanitary for any of us and my house is starting to smell. this is why i'm stopping... 12:08pm : i can tell she has to go. i try to put her on the potty she says "no, no! i don't wanna go potty!" and runs away, into the office [this is where i praise the Lord for wood floors in this room] and pees on the floor i grab her and set her on the potty where she finishes, undies on. apparently you're supposed to reward even if they go a tiny bit in the potty, even if it began as an "accident" um, i still had to clean up a huge puddle and trail of pee on the floor... doesn't seem like success to me? oh well,...

i started potty training today. using this method.  i'll be posting and updating the post as we go... more for my sanity than your enjoyment [since the program requires that i am housebound for three straight days] 9:30am : had her throw away her diapers and wipes put on princess "undie-wears" as she calls them told her we have to keep the undies dry and to tell mommy when she has to use the potty 10:39am : so far, nothin. i have repeated "tell mommy when you have to go potty, k?" a billion times she's gone through a sippy cup of apple juice i guess i was under the impression that she just constantly peed when she was wearing a diaper... hmmm.. 10:51am : "mommy, i hafta go potty!!!" [very excitedly, as it drips down her legs... oops] she realized she probably has to tell me a few seconds earlier. but it was also my fault. they say you have to be by their side constantly, and i was in the kitchen for a minute... new undies and a ...