Let me start by admiting that I am extremely behind on this! I know, I haven't posted any of Reese's recent updates and developement stuff.
For a quick update: Reese is now 27 months. At her most recent doctor's appointment, she was 27.5 pounds and 34 inches tall. Reese is extremely verbal and active. She doesn't sit still for long, unless we are reading a book -- which she LOVES! She talks all the time, and we are frequently amazed at how smart she is. The kid is smart, and that's sometimes not the easiest thing as a parent. But she is a sweet and happy girl, so the difficult times are far less than the joyful ones!
She is no longer using her pacifier for anything... thanks to the initial push from daycare! I guess it was over Thanksgiving that we just stopped giving it to her. There was a Sunday afternoon we thought it might help her nap better, but it didn't. So, that was it! The is a "big girl bed" in her room, but it's still in the box! We haven't gotten her room ready for her to be "free" in there yet (aka - we haven't baby proofed her room enough for me to trust her in there without supervision).
And the newest developement for her... potty training! For months (really it's been about 6 months), I have been putting her on the potty and she has used it from time to time. And for months, I have been pumping her up about getting to wear "big girl panties" and how big girl's don't use diapers, they only use the potty! So over Christmas, we packed all the big girl panties that we owned and took them to Grammy's with us!
I had prepped myself for starting after Christmas. I wanted to have a time period where she would be with me, and I thought the best time would be with the help of a grandparent! :) Christmas was crazy (as it should be with a toddler), and the day after Christmas was pretty busy too with family events. So December 27 was the day! That morning (around 7:30), I got Reese out of her pack-n-play and told her that she was going to start wearing big girl panties! She was excited, and I asked her first thing to get all the pee pee out while on the potty so she wouldn't pee pee in her panties. Every hour I took her to use the potty, but the girl wouldn't go! She said she didn't have to go! By 10:30, she hadn't used the potty or wet her panties. I was AMAZED -- there's no way it could be that easy. Then I let her know it was time for a nap, and she would need to wear a diaper (I didn't have pull ups or anything along those lines, and I certainly didn't trust her in the bed without having used the bathroom all morning)! She had a fit -- she didn't want to wear a diaper, only big girl panties! But she finally settled down and got in a nap. She got up with a slightly wet diaper, but pottied before we headed out to lunch. At lunch, I continued to ask her if she had to potty -- "nope!" was all I got everytime. Until she was nearly done with her pizza. She looked up and said, "Mommy, I pee-peed in my panties." Awesome. Thankfully I went prepared, so while I cleaned her up and changed her clothes in the bathroom, my brother-in-law cleaned up her mess. We talked about it and moved on. Later that day, I had to spend the day at the doctor's office, and Reese had two more accidents, but she also had a few successful trips too. Day 1 was done!
I won't give all the details about each of the other days, but I wanted to at least document some good things that she did that made me extremely proud and gave me hope to go on.
Day 2: Reese started off her day with an accident that morning, but she woke up from her nap dry! She had a few other accidents that afternoon, but I was proud of her 2nd day.
Day 3: Ella (Reese's cousin) turned 1, and we traveled to the birthday party in VA. That morning, she had an accident, but she did much better throughout the day! When we traveled to VA, Reese wore a pull-up! And when we got to the party, she used the potty! Before leaving, she used the potty again... and in between, she didn't wet her pull-up! I was so proud that she was busy and distracted, but she didn't wet her "panties." Before getting back on the road and heading home, we made a few stops. At one of the stops, Reese told me with a surprising looking on her face, "I pee-peed in my panties." But on the way home, she told me that she had to go poo-poo. At the time, we were a few miles from an exit. And I knew that she wouldn't go on the side of the road (not to mention, that's not the safest option for a toddler). So, I asked her if she could wait until we got home. She said yes, but I expected a dirty pull-up when we got back. To my surprise, we went straight to the bathroom, and my sweet girl pooped on the potty! Let me repeat that in case you missed it... she HADN'T GONE IN HER PULL-UP! I was shocked and so so proud!
Day 4: Reese only had a couple of accidents, and again woke up from her nap dry!
Day 5: She started the say with an accident while playing after breakfast, but she was great for the rest of the day!
Day 6: New Year's Day and our travel day back to SC! The morning started off great, and she made it all morning accident free! We left my mom's and headed to the airport to pick Dusty up. Even with a melt down over putting on a pull-up, we made it through her nap, past picking up Dusty, and to the gas station a an hour later or so before she pottied. And when she went then, it was on the potty at the gas station! We then traveled another 1.5 hours before getting to Dusty's mom's where she used potty again! We were so close to an accident free day when... while playing she froze! A few seconds later, she looked up and said, "I'm done." She had pottied... but thankfully, it was in her pull-up. The 3 hour drive home went pretty well with only a slightly used pull-up before bed. Still, I was so proud of her and the lack of accidents we had with all that travel!
Day 7: Only one accident... but even that was in a pull-up.
Day 8: A repeat of day 7, and she and Dusty had a little ice cream treat as a reward for how well she's done.
Day 9: Reese went to daycare for the first time in her big girl panties! She made it past nap time and through most of the day before having a couple of accidents from 3:00 - 6:00.
Day 10 (yesterday): NO ACCIDENTS AND DRY WAKE UP FROM HER NAP!
Day 11: No accidents and only a little damp after her nap!
This has gotten a lot longer than I thought, and I'm pretty sure that most of you don't give a rip about her accidents and successes. But one day, I'll want to look back at how it went. And I couldn't be more proud of my sweet girl's start at potty training. It gives me a lot of hope about having her well trained before baby 2 comes in June! At this rate, I'm confident she can do it! :)
