Tuesday, August 14, 2012

Big Kid Status: Potty training & Sleep training

We finally just potty trained Miniboss and right after that adventure, I decided to get get her to stop co-sleeping with me and sleep in her own toddler bed. Now she is officially i-n-d-e-p-e-n-d-e-n-t!! She seems to be less clingy now, and I've been taking out out to play with more kiddos her age and she is starting to really blossom and become a social butterfly.

I've had a few of our friends who have kids her age (Miniboss is 2 1/2) and are still in diapers and have asked me how I did it... so I'd like to share in case any other Mommas are having trouble potty training their toddlers.

It took me 3 days for the entire process. Before I started I asked a few moms what they did, and everyone kept telling me they will do it when they're ready don't force potty training on them. I understand you can't rush anything with kids, they have a tiny mind of their own and we all know toddlers are stubborn! But I couldn't take that as an answer..I guess I'm more stubborn lol. The first day of potty training I took her to the bathroom and sat her on her potty seat as soon as she woke up. I told her go potty and sat with her until she went. It took like 20 mins and her stuggling wanting to get off and eat and play. I just kept telling her no you need to potty first and would put her back on when she tried to jump off. Well she finally went and when she did I gave her a "reward" aka candy and was really enthusiastic telling her look you did it! you did it!! What a smart girl!! After that I put big girl undies on for her and just let her roam the living room. I shut all the doors in our apartment and kept her in one area so I could keep an eye on her. Every 20-30 mins I'd ask her if she needed to go potty and and placed her on the potty seat anyway. Sometimes she went and I'd reward her, and sometimes she didn't and would end up peeing where ever on the floor and even on her art notebook! I would tell her, "ewww icky look your all wet!" and then place her on her potty seat and tell her you need to pee here. Later in the day when she decided she had had enough of potty training and it wasn't for her, I gave her a new toy to get her to sit on the seat until she went. I got her the IXL Fisher price toy and it has lots of fun little apps for toddlers, and she was really interested in the new toy she sat still and eventually went. I would then take away the toy and only give it to her while she was on the potty. At first she would tell me "ohh I need to potty" but she just wanted to sit there and play with her new toy lol.

The second day I started the cycle all over again, except this time I let her wear a pull up. I would take her every 20-30 mins and she had a few accidents in her pullup and I would change her into a new one right away so she could feel dry and would be more conscience of when she had to go. She also went a few times while on the toliet and I just kept giving her candy and her IXL game. (Over night I just let her wear a pullup btw)

By the third day I left her in pull ups again but she had no accidents! She kept telling me "Mom I have to poop" and I'd grab her and run to the toilet. Of course she when she says it, it just means pee, but that's her way of telling me she has to go potty. She still says I have to poop lol..but whatever I'm just glad I don't have to change any diapers anymore! I have the inconvenience of running her to the toliet every 30 mins at first...she has a tiny bladder, or maybe she drank too much..but now that it's been a few weeks she only goes once an hour or so. Sometimes I let her wear big girl undies and sometimes shes in pullups like when we leave the house incase we cant get to a toliet in time, but she's been really good at letting me know.

So it only took 3 days to potty train Miniboss! Aftwer that I was feeling pretty confident in my big girl so I decided I wanted to get the last thing out of the way and get her to stop co sleeping with me in my bed. Once again the process took 3 days, and I barely got any sleep, either did she, but she is finally in her own bed!

The first night I placed her in her bed and laid on the floor next to her bed and told her to go to sleep and she kept crying and jumping off her bed trying to lay with me on the floor lol. Well eventually it was like 3 am and she was really tired and I told her to get on her bed and gave her her itouch which has pbs on it and she watched it till she knocked out. She woke up in the middle of the night twice and would run onto my bed but i just grabbed her and put her back into her toddler bed and lay next to her on the floor.

Second night was a little easier. She knew she wasn't going to lay on my bed with me, and we repeated the no sleep screaming and crying and fussing and I laid on the floor with her and when she knocked out I jumped back into my own bed.

By the third night I had my husband lay on the floor with her and I was in our bed, and Miniboss was in hers (all in the same room) and she laid there and slept with no problems! She woke up once (which she always does anyway) but she would see us in the rooom and go back to bed in her own toddler bed.

She still wakes up in the middle of the night once in a while to try and climb into my bed, but I put her back in her toddler bed and lay on the floor next to her till she knocks out. She's a stubborn kid, but getting her to be more independent has been soo great for her socially with other kids and when we go out. She wants to play with other kids now. Before she would always just be clingy and it would take her forever to get used to new people. I don't regret pushing her to be more on her own, which I know is hard since I'm a SAHM and she see's me all day.

Anyway that's our big kid story! Miniboss is sure growing up and I miss her as a baby, but I am really loving this toddler age!! She's so fun and sassy. :)

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