Potty Training

So I've pretty much decided (barring any illness cropping up etc) that Thursday (it just happens to be Riley's Birthday) we're going to start potty training.

We'll be using the 3-Day Potty Training guidelines and I have 3 or 4 online friends who've done it in the past couple of months with their littles, and their toddlers truely were PT in 3 days!!! The author of this method apparently had 6 boys all potty trained in 3 days

I feel kinda silly that we're starting on her 2nd Birthday, it really isn't because she's 2. It's more because 1) Ryan has 4 straight days off and he can help me with the process. 2) because shes so ready... Not in "readiness" sort of way (I don't really agree with "ready" idea- kids are born potty trained, it's just a matter of getting connected and watching their cues- you can start at a very young age- or you can wait but either way you have to learn their cues and YOU'LL be trained to help them...ANYWAY, I've just never been brave enough to try ECing with a young baby. Either way figuring out the cues can take longer for some parent/child couples than others but it WILL happen with enough persistance on the parents part).

Riley has hated almost every single diaper change since before Amity's birth, she makes them so hard! She HATES it. As playful and silly as I can get there are still almost always a bit of tears and a definite battle involved. I think (and I hate to use this word) it will help her feel empowered to be able to use the potty. Bottom line, I think she's honeslty a bit embarressed about diaper changes and possibly even finds them a little humiliating and thats why she fights them and hates them so much.

So what's involved...
First you throw out the diapers (or in our case you put them away for the baby only)and give them big kid underwear (NOT training pants but underwaer).
Seconldly KEEP THEM CLOSE. 3 days of keeping your toddler closer than close- you do not leave the house and you do not leave their side the entire three days.
They get lots of extra special attention, you can give a reward every time they use the potty- you make it FUN!
Also, you do not EVER ask "do you need to use the potty?". You give the control to the child, "Be sure to tell Mommy when you need to go potty." ..."Tell Mommy if you need to go, okay?" you just remind them to TELL YOU, over and over and over.
that is the ONLY thing you say, even when they have an accident "Uhoh, lets remember to tell mommy you need to go, okay?"
I REALLY love this method because it's about connectedness and tuning in with your child. I was feeling kind of bad that we'd have to start the process on RJ's BIRTHDAY, but the more I thought about it the more I realize she'll LOVE it...She'll get tons of extra cuddle time and time in than she usually does, and that will be a great gift for her. She'll also be getting a little WOODEN rocker from my Mom (it's adorable) so she'll have some thing new and special to sit on while she's learning the potty (that isn't cushiony stainable furnature)- this will help if she has an accident. She's also getting new toys so that will be stuff for us to play with her. AND the method also calls that you give them lots and lots of special things to drink so they pee more than usual (get more practice)...So she'll be getting lots of juice and I'm getting her an Elmo sippie for the day so that will be even more fun! I think our reward will be Chocolate Chips or M&M's....And I'm going to run to the $1 store and pick up some stickers as rewards as well.

I'm excited to dive in. But at the same time I am SO SO SO SO sad. This is some thing I've been talking about for months, and now that I'm faced with it I want to cry. I think it's also because she's turning two. I'm trying to wrap my brain around it. How did that happen? Where did the last two years go? We made a big bed out of the sofa pillows yesterday and we were snuggling and reading together and she climbed up on top of me and she stretches so far down my body it's unreal. Did this little person really come out of me? That teeny tiny baby I brought home from the hospital who when nursed laying down barely went past my belly button (because she was all curled up). How did my baby turn into this rambuncious little girl?!

So there is more but I'm quickly running out of time to work out...The girls'll be up soon and I really need to get this in before they are!