Many of you will recall the beginning of our potty-learning journey, which took place a little over two months ago (see here and here). The two months has seemed a little long to us, because after the first week, the potty-learning road became very much a roller coaster ride for our family. As soon as Isabel learned that peeing and pooping on the potty was something that we really wanted her to do, she, in true Isabel fashion, dug her heels in and decided she was only going to do it when and how she decided she was ready. We so wanted her to be successful, and we had to come to the realization that all children are different and for Isabel, the "intensive" potty-learning experience just did not work for her. She required a much more laid back approach. Toward the end of June, when things were about at their worst, we had many outings with Isabel in tears (and Mommy very nearly in tears) after having peed or pooped (or both) in her panties, and we were going through 4 or 5 pairs of panties a day. We decided to relax in our approach a little, but still did not want to go back to diapers because we thought that starting the whole process over again was not the best option for anyone. So, we started using Pull-ups on her during outings, and also for some time at home in the evenings. She would go all day dry at school, and then would come home and have 3 or 4 accidents (sometimes within feet of the bathroom). Very frustrating!
This pattern continued throughout much of July, and we just continued in our sometimes-panties, sometimes-Pull-ups routine. This past week she has turned a major corner! Last Saturday, she said, very matter-of-factly, "Mommy, I need to go poop" and took herself up to the bathroom. A few minutes later, she exclaimed "I go poopy!!!!" I came upstairs and was astounded to see that she had indeed had an entire BM in the toilet! Her reward for this is a piece of Kit-Kat candy bar, which she promptly asked for and received. This process repeated itself Saturday evening. She then went two days (Sunday and Monday) without going poop at all (and also kept her panties totally dry!), and so on Tuesday morning I mentioned to her teacher at school, Ms. Krisi, that she would probably need to go that day. She said she would pay close attention and have her try if she looked like she needed to go (she had not yet pooped at school). That night, her daily sheet came home and said "Isabel had a BM on the potty today!! She was very excited to get 5 stickers!" We praised and praised Isabel that evening. The next day at school, she went poopy on the potty three times (receiving 15 stickers!) and today, she has taken herself to the bathroom and has gone poopy four times!
With as much as I am rinsing Josiah's poop out of cloth diapers, I am definitely glad to be at the point where I will very rarely need to rinse it out of Isabel's panties!
Look how proud she is of herself (yes, I will delete this photo when she is 16 years old and embarrassed by it!)
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