1 down, 2 to go

Ava was ready. So ready I should have done this months ago. But I wasn't ready. Not ready to deal with the mess, frustration and the worst thing of all.........public restrooms. I've never even been in a restroom at the grocery store, Target, etc. or even know where they are. Then I think about having to take all 3 in there and how do I manage the other 2 while I'm helping Ava on the potty? I already have a hard enough time keeping Mia's hand out of Ava's little potty and can only imagine what things she would get into in a public restroom. But having put this off as long as possible, it was finally time to start potty training.

Months ago Ava started going on the potty. She was doing pretty well for a couple of weeks, but not totally consistent and I still kept her in diapers and sometimes a pull up. Then she absolutely refused to go. She was crabby and throwing a lot of fits and come to find out she was cutting her molars. I decided it was best to put the potty aside for a little while and we would try again later. Later turned into last month.

We finally had a free weekend to completely dedicate to Ava. Well, I was completely dedicated to Ava while Alex had to tend to Andrew & Mia. I was telling her all week long that her diapers were almost gone and then she was going to have to wear big girl panties and pee pee on the potty. I had already stocked up on a TON of panties, more than enough for both girls, but decided to take her to Target and let her pick out some of her own. Plus it was a special shopping trip just for Ava and I, which rarely happens, and was so much fun and EASY with just one! She immediately spotted Yo Gabba Gabba panties and had to have them plus some Dora ones too. It was all she could talk about for the rest of the day.

The next day, Saturday, was day 1. I was completely prepared with paper towels, carpet cleaner, a bag of clean panties, an empty bag for the messy ones and a big cup of water to make sure Ava had plenty of opportunities to go potty. The potty was out and ready to go. Off came the diaper and on went the Yo Gabba Gabba panties. Alex and I were practically sweating the entire hour we were upstairs before taking them down for breakfast.

Ava outside in just a shirt and panties, all ready for the potty!

Posing with daddy

What Andrew & Mia were doing while I was following Ava around.

After breakfast we decided to spend the morning outside and that way we could avoid having to clean the carpet or the couch. I followed her around outside, just waiting to catch her and run her to the potty. This was not an easy task since Mia was in a mood and only wanted mommy, so I had to keep shoving Mia off on Alex. It was almost 10am and I knew that any minute she was going to have to go. Sure enough, just as she was taking a drink of water she started to pee. I immediately rushed her over there and she barely got any in the potty. This is pretty much how how the rest of the morning went. Five accidents before nap. Including one in her chair at lunch. I had actually expected more.

After nap she woke up a completely different child. About 30min after she got up, she suddenly got a look on her face, froze and said "I have to pee pee". I rushed her over and she made it in time. The rest of the afternoon went great. She was telling us she needed to go and I never had to use my carpet cleaner once :)

Day 2 I was ready for a much easier day now that I felt like she had it down pretty well. Unfortunately we woke up to find that Andrew had the croup. Really bad timing. His medicine from last time had expired so now I had to take Andrew to the after hours clinic and leave Alex to the potty training. We were gone over 2hrs, but Ava did really well even telling Alex during lunch that she needed to pee pee. She has done amazing.......with the peeing. Poop is another story.

The first few days she pooped in her pull up at naptime or bedtime. No big deal and I kind of expected that. Then she held it for a couple days and then she would try and sneak off and poop in her panties. If I managed to catch her in time she would cry and not want to sit on the potty, but then it got to where she would sit and then get scared and get up. She would hold it to the point where she couldn't control it and start crying about messing up her panties. She would get so upset and it absolutely broke my heart because I didn't know how to help her get over this.

Everything I had read online and talked to other moms about said that this was normal and they would just get over it. Hoping to help motivate her, I tried offering up some M&M's if she would poop on the potty, but that didn't work. A couple weeks ago when I was at Target, I saw Cinderella Barbie. Ava loves princesses and I just knew this would entice her to go. Um, Cinderella sat on my kitchen counter for 4 days and in the meantime, Ava's devastation over the poop in the panties was getting worse. Something had to be done.

We were on day 5 of Cinderella collecting dust on my counter and after breakfast, Alex was getting ready to take the kids upstairs when Ava said she needed to poop. She had already been on the potty a few times this morning and "tried" but nothing happened. He told her to go sit on the potty and she started crying. We knew she had to go so bad! So I sent Alex upstairs with Andrew & Mia and put Ava on the potty. It took 30min, a lot of crying, back rubbing, hugs, and consoling. But the tears stopped and she got a look on her face. Finally! Poop in the potty!!! She was so proud of herself! She hasn't had a poop accident since then :)

Since day 1, she hasn't had a single pee pee accident and I could count on one hand the number of times she woke up from nap or overnight wet with almost all of that happening in the first week. So now we are down to just a pull up at bedtime and that will likely be gone in the next week or so. All in all, she was pretty easy and we have even conquered public restrooms, but thankfully she can hold it a pretty long time.

Up next is Andrew. I have a feeling he is not going to be as easy as Ava. Wish me luck!