Potty Training Continues...

Yesterday, I started implementing a new tactic. It wasn't planned, it just sort of happened.

Last week, I continued with the "no TV shows for babies who where diapers" mode of teaching. For the first three days, she cried about it and kept asking over and over, and would sometimes sit on the potty then get right back up, as if to say: "There! I did it! Give me Elmo!" She quickly saw this was getting her no where, then seemed to give up on asking to watch TV, and also on even trying to use the potty.

We did have one success where she actually went in it, and I was very happy about that. Through the Labor Day holiday weekend, we continued with the potty-training with pull-ups or no diaper at all when home, and only had that one success in about 10 days.

So, yesterday morning, she suddenly started begging me to watch her Mickey Mouse Clubhouse DVD. Maybe it was because it was a rainy day and we were inside, or maybe it was just because. But, I thought, let's try something new, and I said to her, "Okay, Lily. I will let you watch one episode of Mickey Mouse Clubhouse after bath time tonight if you try to use the potty at least three times today. And you have to sit on the potty each time for at least five minutes, okay?" She just nodded her head then wandered away, I hoped in recognition of the plan. Later, she went on to try and use the potty three times exactly as we discussed, and then she started asking to watch her show again. I reminded her she had to wait until later before she went to bed, which made her cry a bit, but then she got over it.

One way to keep her busy and her mind off of Nemo and TV

Later, we went to the store and there were these little Finding Nemo figurines for $1. She saw them, and pulled one of each off the rack. I saw them as the perfect little reward for actually making something on the potty. So, we got them.

She seemed to forget about them once they were in the shopping bag in the car, but as soon as we got home, she started asking for them. So I told her she could pick one, and that the rest would be hers once she made poopy or pee-pee on the potty. I explained she would get for each time she actually went on the potty. She seemed to filter that part out, because after she told me "Nemo!" and I gave her Nemo, but she didn't get Dory, Squirt or Bruce, she started howling. I put the 3 other figurines on a high shelf in the bathroom where she could still see them, but not reach them, and told her again how things were going to be.

It's been months since she has thrown such a tantrum... 

But, I stayed firm, and just let her cry it out. Paul even stepped in to help and try to calm her, still unwavering from the deal I had made with her. She just cried and cried and rolled around on the floor, asking for Dory every now and then, and then crying louder when I told her once she made poopy or pee-pee on the potty, then she could have one of them.

She eventually calmed down, and long story short, she ended up trying to use the potty four more times that day, for a total of seven times that day! That is her personal best! Nothing came out at any of those times, but I could tell she was genuinely trying.

Waiting up on the top shelf...that Elmo sticker book is her special "potty time only" book

So, maybe there is something to the reward system. We'll try that for now and see how it goes. Today Lily is 2 1/2 and it's also her first day in the "older two's" classroom at her daycare. Maybe this is the beginning of real progress in her potty-training journey... 

Looking out the window at school

By the way, thanks for all of the advice and support so far! It really means a lot to me, and every suggestion makes a huge difference!