I really wasn't feeling ready or all that motivated to potty train Adelie. But we are planning a trip to Disney in January (SHHHH... it's a surprise for the kids) and I wanted her to be trained well before the trip. She has been showing a recent excitement about the prospect of big girl underpants. And last week, she successfully used the potty once. So even though I was kind of dreading it and looking for reasons to put it off, it seemed like the time was now. So now it is.
We are currently 5 days into potty training, and I've been pleasantly surprised at how well Adelie has been doing. Sure, we've had some accidents (but not nearly as many as I anticipated), and many more successes than accidents. She's actually successfully taken herself to the bathroom on 2 or 3 occasions when I was otherwise occupied, so she obviously knows when she needs to go. She can often go when I have her sit and we've even had a successful #2 on the potty. (The other days, she's just saved it for her nap time diaper, much like Staley used to do.) And today Adelie had her first attempt at a diaper free outing when we went to the zoo with Aunt Jill and Lila...and it was a success!!! Driving to and from Peoria, successfully using the potty 3 times at the zoo, and keeping her big girl underpants dry and clean the whole time was more than I had hoped for.
I still hate potty training, but the end result will be so nice. I'm not saying we are there yet, but we're heading in the right direction. And if that direction is adding another independent toilet-user to our household, I'm all for it.
Staley "reading" potty-time books to Adelie
