My oldest daughter has been potty-trained for about 3 months now.  For the last 2 months I haven’t even been putting a pull-up on her at night because she always woke up dry, or she would wake up and tell me she had to go potty. 

Last night at 3:30am I had my 3 year old crying “mommie, mommie”.  I went to see what was wrong, and after trying to figure out what she was trying to say to me, I realized that she was saying “I want to clean my bum”. 

No big deal.  Accidents happen I told her.  My husband and I both gave her a big hug and told her that it was okay.  We put her on the potty and she urinated some more, while we changed her bed.

Despite the one little accident, she has been doing incredible.  Back in february she wouldn’t even sit on the potty.  She would urinate in her pullup and tell me after the fact.  Even the “cool alerts” didn’t work.  So, how did I potty train her?

Chocolate!  Lots of chocolate.  Well, maybe not lots.  However, I have never been one to endorse junk food so she really wasn’t used to having it.  I initially just gave her a micro mini egg or a hershey kiss just for “sitting” on the potty.  Once she got comfortable with sitting on the potty, I told her that they didnt’ make diapers in her size anymore and that she would have to go potty.  I put on some “big girl” underwear with children’s characters on them and put on some old play pants on her.  Then, I let the chips fall where they may.

When she first started urinating in her pants, she started to cry because she didn’t like the feeling of being “wet”.  As soon as she did this, I picked her up quickly and stuck her on the toilet.  Usually she urinated a little more, so then I gave her a treat and clapped with joy.  We did that a few more times, and I did a lot of laundry.  I made sure to stay at home for a good two days so that we were close to the bathroom.  Eventually, she told me when she had to go to the potty and we had no more accidents.

When she had to have a bowel movement, that was a little more difficult.  She was very scared to have a bowel movement in the toilet so it took another 2 weeks.  We started doing the “poo poo dance” when she went in the potty, so then she wanted to go poo all the time.

After it became habit for Natara to go on the potty, I weened her off of the chocolat.  Now, its just another thing in her routine, and she is doing fantastic.

I guess it all boils down to readiness.  Child or adult; if you don’t have the readiness to learn, you aren’t going to learn the new information or skill.  Only when you are interested in learning, will you be able to take on something new.