No more diapers!!

I'm so far behind in this blog, but there's one very important event that took place around the end of October that needs recognition. Elly was potty trained!! She now wears big girl panties and is doing wonderful about telling us when she needs to go potty. Since this blog is a bit of a family journal for me I'll give the details...for posterity's sake :)

I knew early on with Elly that I wasn't going to rush potty training. I've seen it done with other kids. Their parents say they are potty trained at a very early age, but the child is still in diapers or pull ups at night or they continue to have lots of accidents. I'm in no way an expert, but common sense told me that if you're still putting diapers on a child...that's not really potty trained (at least in my book).

Anyhow, I knew we were going to be travelling until she was past two, so I didn't even plan to introduce a potty chair until we were back in Germany and settled. We started reading potty books to her and got her a little potty chair, but it was really on the back burner for me. I didn't think she was ready at all and couldn't imagine her being able to go without a diaper.

In my mind I had a day (in August) picked out to start her in panties. I talked to her about it A LOT and read her books and really built it up to her. Then the day arrived and I was very busy. I knew it would be hard to concentrate on potty training so I decided not to. That is, until Elly woke up and wouldn't stop talking about it :) Because of her constantly asking about panties I did finally put them on her. It lasted about 2 hours...tops. I tried to take her to the potty about every 30 minutes, but she kept fighting me on it and then would have an accident. Finally, after about 5 accidents (one of them poopy), I said "Enough of that" and put her back in diapers. She was not ready. Period.

Then, entirely on her own, she started telling me when she had to go poopy. Every time. And she never pooped in her diaper again. This was in mid-August. Without having nasty diapers to change I figured I could go on forever just changing wet diapers :) Besides, it was so much easier with travelling and all. So, we just settled into a nice little routine where she used the potty to go poopy, but still wore diapers. She was still waking up in the mornings with her diaper soaked, so I couldn't even imagine her going all night without having an accident. Then in mid-October I knew Sam's cousin was coming for a visit and we would be travelling, so I figured I'd wait until after that to think about potty training again.

Finally, on October 28th, I decided it was time to go into panties and try them again. That was a Friday. She did great all through the day, but I still put her in diapers for her nap and nighttime. Sunday rolled around and Elly announced that she wanted to wear her panties to church. I was a little nervous, but said ok. She did great all through church. Before heading home I asked her if she needed to go potty. She didn't, but had a little accident before we got home. Still it was pretty successful.

It was around this time that I talked to my Mom about when I should do away with diapers all together. I'm so blessed to have my Mom in my life. I'm so thankful that she's still around for me to ask questions of and to bounce things off of her. Moms are SO wise...at least mine is :) In talking to her I realized that I was doing more to confuse Elly by putting her back and forth from panties to diapers and back to panties. She would forget if she was in panties or a diaper, so would end up having an accident. Mom's always said that when you potty train do away with diapers all together. Same thing with pull ups because they still feel like a diaper to a little child. Mom said that whenever I decided to do away with diapers to just be prepared for accidents. Plan for them.

So anyhow, the next day (Monday & Halloween) I put her down for her nap in her panties and she did great. No accident! So, I planned to put her to bed the same way, but after being out late trick-or-treating we came home and she drank a lot of water. I figured that was no way to start out, so I put it off for another night.

Tuesday, November 1st, I put Elly in her panties when she woke up that morning and that was the last of the diapers. She went down for her nap in panties and did great. I told her that she was going to go to bed in her panties at nighttime too. I kept telling her that she would have to wake me up if she needed to go potty during the night. That evening, I was prepared. I set out about 3 sets of sheets, waterproof pads, pajamas, tee shirts and panties so if she had an accident through the night I was ready for it. I put her to bed and kept waking up through the night to check on her. At one point, she was wiggling around so I went in to see if she needed to go potty. She did and I put her back to bed. She woke up dry the next morning and has done great ever since. I am just so proud of my little girl. She's amazing! Four days after starting in panties she was done with diapers entirely.

Since then she's had maybe two accidents at night, but she is doing so well. I still wake up alot at night and if she's wiggling around I ask her if she needs to go potty. Some nights she goes all 10 hours without going potty though.

Throughout the last couple of years with Elly there have been times when I was really worried about something and didn't know how it was going to work out, but when the time came the road just smoothed out in front of me. I remember wondering how I was ever going to wean her. I just couldn't see it happening. She was too attached to it and had no inclination to stop, but slowly and surely it happened. Potty training was another thing that I worried about because I just saw Elly as my baby and couldn't imagine her using the potty all the time. Lo and behold...she's potty trained. Her eating is another thing that just weighs on me constantly. But I believe this too will work itself out in time. Someday I think I'll look back at this period, where she's so picky about food and has such a limited number of foods she will eat, and realize I didn't need to stress about it so much. God has a way of working out the details of our lives. Being a parent is not easy. Sometimes I wonder what makes me qualified to raise a child. I feel so unqualified some days. But...God. I'm so thankful I have a Heavenly Father who cares about every one of these details in my life and helps me through each of them. Elly is the best gift I've even been given. She is so precious and ornery. I can't imagine a day without her. Having a child is hard work, but she makes life so much sweeter and I thank God for her every day. And not having to change diapers anymore is pretty nice too :)