Potty Training

Dear Nevaeh,

Potty training. Where do I begin....I suppose Day 1 is a good start. We dove head on into this adventure 3 days ago, though I introduced you the potty several months ago. You had peed in it a few times, but generally weren't interested and sometimes flat out cried for a diaper, and I wasn't going to push you. These past 3 days have been much better, and you have been as enthusiastic as me! Maybe more so. Allow me to elaborate...

Day 1. Oh, and let me establish that we're doing this the full out nakey way. You wake up in the morning and the diaper comes off, and stays off until nap time. You peed on the potty 4 times, and on the floor twice, and in your diaper during nap time and bed time. Great job for your first day! Except the one time you got super excited...so excited that you stood up and started doing the "Yay I peed!" Dance before you had finished peeing. We counted that as a success anyway ;-)

Day 2. Just as good as the first day, but a little grosser. You went potty while I did too, so I took that opportunity to teach you how to wipe yourself. Which you did like a champ. But then you thought you had to wipe up the pee in the potty, which meant submerging the toilet paper as well as your hand, in the potty. Gross, Nevaeh. Just gross! But still an accomplishment, and we definitely still did the victory dance. After we washed our hands.

Day 3. This was probably the most amusing day. We are really into the potty dances, celebrating and cheering. You are quick to announce "Mommy you hear it?! I pee! Yay! Look!" and give me a hug as I praise praise praise you. And you figured out after the first time that you need to stay on the potty until you are done with your business. What you apparently didn't have figured out yet is that your legs should stay together and down, instead of lifted into the air. Spread eagle, leaning back as if you were aiming for the Heavens. So the pee got halfway in the potty, and halfway...everywhere else. Don't worry, we still danced :-)

I love you, Dear Daughter. You make life so entertaining and interesting. You are so excited to become a Big Girl, and are so proud of yourself! As am I, sweetie. Mommy and Daddy are SO PROUD of the little lady you're turning into. I'm trying not to blink too much so I don't miss a single thing!

I'm sure we'll have more potty chronicles to come!

Love, Mommy


****Edit****
November 4...day 4 of Potty Training...our best day yet!! I never pictured myself doing a dance around the house over poo...but alas, I have surprised myself. And so have you, my big girl! You woke up from your nap, so we whipped off the diaper and pulled out the potty. Like a pro, you sat down and did your business, we danced, and then we flushed it. Like always. About a minute later you came to me saying you wanted a diaper, but I said you didn't need one because you just peed on the potty, and you can just sit down if you needed to pee some more. You kept insisting, so I send "Fine, go get one." However, you weren't able to pull the diaper out of the box, because it was in a sealed bag, so you came bolting back into the living room with a terrified look on your face and threw yourself down on the potty. A few seconds into it, I began to smell something. Hmm...that's not pee I'm smelling! I thought maybe you were just farting. Then your daddy walked in the room and I looked toward him, and there on the floor by his feet was something that made me wonder for a second if we had a dog. You can imagine what I saw. No, we don't have a dog. We both gasped, then looked at you, sitting on the potty with a terrified expression, and then you started sobbing. "OH no! A mess! Oh no!" You were shattered at making a mess, and you kept glancing between your legs into the potty and sobbing harder, the most distraught look on your sweet face. It was obvious at this point you had wanted the diaper so you could poop, and then realized you couldn't hold it so ran into the room (Although half of it was umm..deposited...on the carpet) and sat on the potty and you did it! My big girl, you did it! And once we reassured you that it was amazing what you did, not a bad mess, you cheered with us. Cleaned you up, flushed it, ate some candy and danced! Our big girl...you are growing so fast. This potty training thing is going smoother than I thought, and I'm not the least bit upset at the few accidents you've had, or the dog-like log you left on our beige carpet ;-) Messes can be cleaned. Memories are made, and we want as many as possible to be positive and happy!

Happy growing, Nevaeh Christine <3

Love, Mommy