Potty Training!

Back in the beginning of the year, Ella started showing signs of being ready to potty train.  She would tell us every time she wet her diaper or pooped.  Since she turned 18 months old in January, I knew for sure I was not going to potty train her, even though she acted ready.  Personally, I would rather potty train a child a little too late than too early.  Before they turn 2 is an absolute NO from me.  Potty training is exhausting and can be horrible, and why make it worse for both of you if you're not both on board?  So in August, after Ella had turned 2, we put our little potty seat on top of the potty and sat her on it. 

It was a nightmare.  We didn't even think to check to see if it would fit our toilet seats in our new house.  Our toilets are more oblong now and so the seat would slide back and forth and had no stability.  Long story short, we sort of scarred Ella from sitting on the toilet.

So I ordered two new potty seats that connect with the toilet, waited a couple of months to get that experience out of Ella's memory, and on Monday we started potty training.  

She was still horrified to sit on the potty, but after a couple of hours, she was fine.  We may have watched Daniel Tiger's Neighborhood on the computer in there for 4 hours that morning, but it really did the trick!  She had a few accidents and a few successes that day.  The next two days she only had one accident each day.  She would even cry for us when she had to go potty when she had a diaper on while she was sleeping.  I was proud of her even though I was super groggy at 1 in the morning helping her go to the bathroom.

On Wednesday morning, I discovered Ella had nits in her hair.  I never thought I'd say this, but it was a very convenient time for Ella to get nits.  We weren't going to be leaving the house all week anyway since I was already planning on devoting it to potty training.  Luckily she was the only one affected in the family and she's been treated.

I'm glad I waited until I was ready.  I didn't get impatient or upset once and so I know that made the success easier for Ella.  We are so proud of her!  3 down and 1 to go!