Potty Trained!!

(WARNING: This post contains potty talk- words like "poop" and "pee"- and it is all for my documentation so I remember what it was like to potty train. So read at your own risk.) :)

Our summer vacations have come to an end and our last summer goal (well, MY last summer goal) was to get Alyssa potty trained. I definitely didn't want to travel with a newly potty-trained 2 year old, so I wanted to wait until we got back from Texas. She had been showing signs of being ready to potty train for a long time. We even tried it several months ago when we first got her potty. She peed in it a couple times and then asked for a diaper again- so we decided to wait. But this time I was determined to make it work. We'd talked about it SOOO much and really talked up wearing underwear, but I knew it still had to be on her terms.

So thankfully, after we got home from Texas, she seemed ready! We took Monday and Tuesday to rest, and Tuesday night I told her that tomorrow she was going to start using her potty!! She said, "I not wear diapers!" I thought, YES! She gets it- it's going to work.

Then came Wednesday morning... we both started all smiles.

She had peed in her diaper at 6:30 am, and it was FULL... but I still thought she'd be able to go. She sat for an hour at least, downing water and cereal and anything else in sight. Hours later, she wanted to get up and wear underwear... We sang songs, watched movies, and the girl would not budge. She started to pee in her undies once, then said, "Oh! I go pee!" So we'd RUN to the potty, and she'd sit for 2 seconds and say, "I can't do it." This happened a couple times... but she defintely was not letting enough out. I KNEW it was in there.

Then she went down for a nap. I did not want to put a diaper on her and I didn't want to use a pull-up either (since it's just a pink diaper to her), so I laid a towel down, and she went to sleep in her undies. Then I prayed... a lot.

(I seriously have offered more sincere prayers in the last 3 days than I have in a LONG time- that sounds terrible- but these were pretty heart-felt. I was at a complete loss of what to do.)

Joseph got home a little before 5 and tried a few things with her- mostly just "hand in warm water" which turned into both hands and both feet in luke-warm/cold water... it had no effect. Dinner was pretty lame that night, and we were all at a loss for what to do, but we knew it had to come out sometime! We did find a great YouTube video of the poop song (thanks Danelle!!!) She listened to/watched it about 20 times that night... but didn't poop.

Later that night though, our prayers were answered. It was a LONG first day, but by 8:30, I was putting her down for bed, still in undies, and with a FULL belly. As soon as I walked out of the room, she said, "Wait! I have go pee." So of course I thought it was just her little plot to get out of bed... but I let her anyway. We went into the bathroom and I got serious and said, "Alyssa, you have 10 seconds, and then we're going to bed." I counted to 10- nothing... but I could tell she was trying... so I counted one more time... and at about 3 I heard a trickle... our eyes locked... hers got bigger... mine got bigger... we were both frozen... not wanting to disrupt the stream... then FINALLY she finished and we both screamed and clapped and cheered like we've never cheered before. We hugged at least 20 times. And she FINALLY got a skittle. (Ok she got like 10- she could have had ten packages for all I cared at that point.) Oh and she hadn't let it ALL out so she went again 20 minutes later- so we called it "2 times" on day 1. :)

So we both went to bed happy- THANKFULLY! I showered at about 10 that night. And continued praying that Day 2 would go better.

DAY 2-
So Thursday wasn't much better... but it was better. She woke up at 5:30 in the morning and came into my room to tell me she was wet in her bed. Her undies were a little wet, but definitely not soaked, so I felt the towel on her bed- DRY. After sitting and waiting for about 30 minutes, she did pee on her potty. But she still needed to poop! She lasted through the rest of the morning with no accidents, complained about her tummy hurting, then she took a nap. At this point she hadn't pooped for over 24 hours, which never happens with her, (sorry for TMI), but she refused to do that on the potty. And she still wasn't quite sure about the peeing thing. So she woke up from her nap (which she stayed dry for) and while I was doing dishes I heard the bedroom door open, then close. I knew she was awake so when I went over to the door to get her, I saw that she had pooped, and let a little pee out- but still nowhere close to what I knew was in there. So I didn't make a big deal, I just cleaned it up and asked her if she needed to pee. She said she didn't, so we just continued the same routine. Movies, singing, reading, eating, drinking, and SITTING. Nothing was working. Finally that night she peed on her potty, right before her bath. And then I'm pretty sure she went again IN the bath. So Day 2- little pee in the undies, 2 times in the potty, one poop in the undies, and a little bit of pee in the undies.

Day 3-

I was feeling a little bit better after Day 2 and felt like there was a little glimmer of hope... but how in the world could I make her poop on the potty. It was better to let her run around naked (thanks, Jordan, for that tip!) because she definitely didn't want to go on herself. So I felt like at this point, her underwear were like a diaper and if I let her wear em, I thought she'd poop in 'em again. Well she woke up dry this morning, and I asked her every five minutes if she needed to go potty. She finally yelled, "NOOOO!!!" So I stopped asking. :) But at about 7:30am, she was just playing and said, "Oh! I go potty!" So we RAN into the potty, pulled her undies down, I ran out to get something, came back and she had peed!!! So that was a GREAT start to our day! Then after breakfast and getting ready, she did the exact same thing again! So I was feeling pretty good about things!! Still no poop though. Over the next few hours she complained about her tummy, and I just kept offering silent prayers that she would be able to learn and know how to do it!

We had a friend and her little girl come over for lunch (since we can't really go anywhere) and they had been here for maybe 10 minutes when Alyssa said, "Oh! I go potty!" So I ran in with her, and ran back out after she was sitting down to get something... and all the sudden she yells, "MOM! I POOP!!" I RAN back in and sure enough, she had pooped! I could not believe it. We cheered and cheered and cheered. And theeennnn.... over the course of the next 2 hours, she peed 4 TIMES and pooped 2 more times (maybe 3 more). They say things work differently for every child. Alyssa just needed an audience! (Not IN the bathroom, but at our home to help celebrate!) haha So she's on a roll now. She's taking her nap and I'm praying she remembers everything she did this morning.

I have learned so many things that you can gather from reading this entire post, but I've learned most especially that NOTHING is unimportant to the Lord. It is SO weird to pray about "peeing and pooping", but I KNOW she was able to learn in 3 days because of those prayers. Every time she pees now she says, "Jesus help me!" I have also realized once again the importance of family and friends. I got so many encouraging texts and instagram comments that gave me tons of good advice and I'm so grateful for those. I'm especially grateful for one piece of advice to "Give her lots of loves. She'll get it." I realize that in the heat of the moment it is easy to cave and get discouraged and think it'll never work, but in retrospect, it was only 3 short days and I am SO proud of her. I definitely know we have a long road ahead and possibly many accidents, but we are celebrating each little step along the way!!!

Next task:
Learn to go on the "big potty". :/ Wish us luck!!