Potty Training Update #1

Since I last posted about Maida's first time going potty on the potty chair, not much has happened... UNTIL TODAY! Maida must have woken up this morning and told herself that she was going to be a big girl today.

It all started during nap time when Maida woke up screaming, "Pa! Pa!" which in Maida language means, "Potty! Potty!" So I ran into her room as fast as I could and found in her crib standing up, pointing at her diaper. I immediately swung her out of her crib, ripped her diaper off, and set her on the potty chair. Nothing happened, as usual. So I asked her if she wanted to go lay with me in my bed for a while since she had only slept for an hour. She shook her head "yes" and off we went to my bed, her stark naked.

We laid there for about three minutes and she suddenly sat up and said "Pa! Pa!" while pointing between her legs. Being the lazy mom that I am, I just set her on the floor and told her to go sit on her potty chair and see if anything would come out. I could see the potty chair from where I was laying in bed, so I could see everything that would happen, if anything did happen, which I didn't expect. Normally, she would start towards the potty chair, get distracted by something between her and the potty chair, and never actually make it there. Well, on this special occasion, and much to my surprise, she made it to the potty chair. And as she was trying to climb on it (it's pretty hard for her to get on it by herself yet) she started peeing everywhere. I jumped out of bed, ran to her, and got her on the potty just in time to get some into the potty chair. I started jumping up and down, clapping my hands, and saying , "Yay! Maida is a big girl! Yay!" but she would have none of the celebration. All she wanted to do is look in the potty chair, see the potty, and then go about her daily business. However, I did give her a cookie for a treat and she really liked that. She actually woke up from her nap to go potty!

You may think this is the end of the successful potty-day story. However, if you do think that, you're wrong! After swimming lessons this evening, I was getting Maida ready for a bath to wash off all the chlorine. As we were filling up the bath, she said, "Pa! Pa!" and so I whipped off her clothes and put her on the big potty. Much to my surprise, again, she went! Another big celebration, "Yay, Maida, yay! Good job." But again, Maida would have nothing of celebrating. She only wanted the satisfaction of actually going in the pot. So, I just put her in the bath and we went on with our night.

30 minutes later, Maida was still in the bath and practicing everything she had learned at swimming (...kicking, scooping with her hands, blowing bubbles, putting one ear in at a time, even putting her whole face in the water!). I had been trying to get her out of the bathtub for 20 minutes, but she was just having too much fun to get out. All of a sudden, the famous, "Pa! Pa!" as she was standing up reaching for me to take her out of the tub. I immediately grabbed her and put her on the pot. She went again! And again, she wanted to see the potty, but she just was not into the celebration.

After she went potty this many times in one evening, I was just puzzled as to what finally clicked. I have never forced her on the potty, we've just casually mentioned the potty chair and tried to tell her that everyone, except for babies and Barkley! go to the bathroom in the toilet. And a few days ago, Erik decided to fill some of Maida's bath toys up with water, which conveniently have a hole on their underside, and showed Maida how her bath toys even go potty! So, I had (and still have) no idea what made her want to use the potty chair (and big loo), but all I know is that I think my 16 month old just potty trained herself!

In fact, that's not the end of the story! I was talking to my mom on the phone tonight after Maida's bath when Maida suddenly came running to me saying, "Pa! Pa!," so I dropped the phone in mid-sentence and ran her to the potty chair. Out came the potty - no celebration, except to look at the potty and that was all.

As I was putting Maida to bed tonight, we were rocking and she was kind of squirming around. All of a sudden, she sat up and said, "Pa! Pa!" I really did not want to take off her diaper, onesie, and pajamas that I had just struggled to get on, but I felt like I needed to trust her since she had gone so many times already today and also to reinforce her telling me that she had to pull the plug. So I stripped her down and put her on the toilet. Out came some more pee. Wow. I couldn't believe it.

This is a great beginning to a what might be a long road ahead. I had no intention of potty-training her this early, but we had joked about how nice it would be if she was potty-trained by the time Skogen arrived. I'm still flabergasted at 5 episodes - 4 being within 1.5 hours! Maybe she drank too much water in the pool tonight.