Success With Potty Training

In the beginning of October, on a whim, I started to re-introduce Angelina to the idea of the potty. I say "re" introduce because when we took her from the baby home, she was already out of diapers and in underpants. We knew, and our facilitator told us, that she truly was not potty trained, but was out of diapers as a way to conserve for the younger children.

I first started to put her on the potty when I noticed her take the squat position. However, I was trying to think of a way to get Angelina more involved, which is hard considering she does not speak too many words yet. Then, I remembered sign language, and taught her the sign for potty. The rest is history!

Angelina has been doing wonders with potty training. Now, on one hand, this is great news to me! On the other hand, when I see her make the potty sign for the third time in a half hour, I want to pull my hair out! At first, she was fueled by our praise, but that slowly wore off. Now, we have been rewarding her with an m&m each time she is successful. This has lead to more trips to the potty and trying like heck to squeeze anything out to try to get a prize. A drop of pee lands in the toilet, she smiles and claps then holds out her hand for a treat. This child is unbelievable.

The past few days have been interesting because I've been letting Angelina be free of diapers while we are around the house. I think that she likes the freedom and has been great at telling us when she has to go. I know that we still have a long road to go with regards to being potty trained, but we are off to a great start. And, if Angelina does not drive me too crazy with the potty sign, all will be well!

The following picture has nothing to do with my blog topic post, but I thought it was cute: