By Heather Novak
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| Loading up on Boot Camp goodies |
My oldest daughter turned three last month and we needed to be OUT of CLOTH DIAPERS. I cannot even guess how much we have spent on disposables and pull ups since we began potty training her at 18 months. She was like 75% trained…all poops in the potty with M&M rewards. I thought she had it down so we changed to a bigger reward for a day of clean pants….and derailed everything.
Oh yeah, and we had a baby too.
So my friend Mark gave us the Booty Camp Training DVD and notes to try. He has a special needs child who after nine years in dipes was successfully trained using this method.
Editor’s note: Some of the basics of this style of training include setting aside a day to focus solely on training and keeping the child in underwear the entire day. If there are accidents, the child must participate in cleaning it up and touch his or her wet/dirty underwear to understand what happened. There is a rewards system for attempting to go potty, and of course, for succeeding. The main thing is to put the responsibility of pulling down underwear, sitting and even clean up on the child. Liquids are encouraged to be plentiful the entire experience and many recommend juice boxes (even if they are not usually allowed) because children drink them, and drink them quickly. Salty “junk” foods are also encouraged in order to keep the child interested and thirsty. Back to the post…
This is how our Booty Camp day shaped up:
February 10th: Purchased an obscene amount of junk food for training weekend. For Portia. Well I did eat a lot. To test it out. Actually I might have eaten the entire package of Keebler Elves’ chocolate covered creme wafers. Rotten Elves. 1,200 calories later…
Febuary 11th: Cupcake Girl wakes up at 6:30am. Immediate fail: I was supposed to wake her up earlier and catch her before she “used her diaper as a potty.” Oh well. I went to bed at eleven so I really do not care about this one. I had her sit on the potty, no dice. But she did try. She got out a pull up and I told her we weren’t using pull ups anymore. I reminded her we were wearing panties from now on, no duckies. “Like no diapers for Ducky?” (A book we enjoyed.) I said YUP! I had her go get her panties and she asked if they were going downstairs, I said YUP! She said (!!!) “We should take this potty downstairs!” You bet darlin’. You bet. That was part of the plan but her bringing it up worked GREAT.
7:00 AM: Feasting upon Suzy Qs first. Then Cheetos. Then powdered donuts. Most of me cringes at the junk food diet today. The rest of me is just jealous. Capri sun non juice juice drink. I didn’t even know where these were in the store. Funny enough…juice aisle. I slurp one down with her. For solidarity. She pees on the dining chair. (I think…awesome? Grrrr. Doesn’t this happen magically?) The good thing is she reacted immediately, where in dipes we wouldn’t know till later. We do clean up.
7:25 AM: Pee in the potty nets Portia a toy, a book or 15 minutes of TV. She picks TV and eats more Cheetos.
8:00 AM: Portia’s show is over and to watch more she needs to put something into the potty. She sits on the closed lid like she has no idea…pretty focused on TV. Then she saucily stands facing the potty legs astraddle, we correct her she says “I’m doing it like Daddy!” So we (I) laugh and Daddy corrects her that she sits because she is a girl. She sits and pees.
8:09 AM: Clean and dry she sits eating MORE Cheetos and sharing with the dog. Steve the Dog is a happy guy. Mama considers begging for Cheetos too. Daddy sets her up with more TV during which there is a small meltdown over Mickey vs. Scout and Violet.
8:15 AM: Pee in the Potty! More TV. Dunno if I am more icked out by all the junk food or all the television. ICK.
8:35 AM: Pee in the Potty again. More TV. The baby wakes up and I realize Cheetos will look pretty good to her too….OH NO. Well, Good thing PK polished them off then.
9:45 AM: Several more attempts, more snacks, more drinks. NO ACCIDENTS. Mama spends her time on Pinterest at the dining room table. Libby spends her time pulling PK’s hair & trying to dismantle the potty chair. Both girls visit the time out chair.
NOTE: Do not let your toddler pick out her own dry pants/potty attempt treat (M&M and Conversation Hearts) or else they might throw a fit if they do not get the color or shape or whatever they want. Just give them a little something and only let them select their ‘food’ and ‘drink’ today.
10:00 AM: Daddy leaves for the gym and to help a friend move. Before you think he is a horrible husband and father, know that I okayed it all. I do not love it, I planned this day because we expected a blizzard and John would be home to help and keep Libby busy…..but…friends need help and honestly for the most part I am getting great computer time in between all the action.
10:15 AM: two more pees in the potty. She earned a few toys…her new Russian Matroyscha dolls. Mama and baby split a hummus wrap. Mama dreams of Suzy Qs. PK hands over a few Cheetos to Mama and the babe. We enjoy them and eye her still full bowl.
10:25 AM: Libby refuses hummus wrap for Cheetos. The epic parental dance to encourage healthy food consumption begins. SUCCESS as long as I maintain eye contact!
11:15 AM: Lots more pee in the potty, Portia can do everything herself from the pee, the clean up and Mama is pleased. She has been able to do it all for a long time, but today feels like the first time. The TV has been on for awhile because she keeps peeing so she keeps earning TV time.
11:45 AM: I had to take the baby upstairs and nurse her down for her nap. I was VERY NERVOUS to leave Portia alone. Guess what she did while I was upstairs? POOPED. She pooped in the potty, wiped her own butt and put it in the big toilet all while I was upstairs, I saw the *ahem* tail end of it all. HUZZAH! I promise her she can have the Buzz Lightyear underpants even though they are for boys when she keeps her underpants clean all weekend. I am actually tempted to leave them home alone and go gett’em RIGHT NOW but I know not to be too confident. Plus it is illegal to leave kids alone, pretty sure.
NOTE: Right about now I am REALLY MAD AT MYSELF for not doing the bare bottom roll up the rugs one or so days dedicated just to the potty A LOT earlier. I am thinking about starting with Libby soon. She is 12 months…ah…probably a bit ambitious since she can’t really walk yet. But I heard about naked/pantied training and now have no idea why I didn’t try this more often. The time or two I let her hang out like that as soon as she peed I buttoned her right back into dipes. NOW I see how dumb that was.
12:55 PM: Portia had been doing so well (see where this is going?) I got a book and her new otter toy and we cuddled up on the couch with her on a towel to read. After about five minutes she wet her pants. UGH! I took all toys and books she had earned away and we are starting over. WHAT a BUMMER.
1:27 PM: Both of us are tired. She is slap happy and parking on the potty to avoid another accident. I keep telling her to get up and that she can try again in a minute. I now think I was wrong, that she wasn’t just being defiant or lazy about going in her pants…I think a lot of the times she just didn’t know it was coming!
Both of us are sick of the junk food.
2:20 PM: After her 15 minutes of TV was over Portia headed to the potty but didn’t quite make it in time, peeing on and in and around the potty.
2:25 PM: After the clean up and redressing she was playing with her sister’s baby toy under the table and peed again. I am tired and more than irritated, but the more mistakes we make today the more learning opportunity, right? Also it is VERY obvious the busier or more distracted she is the less attentive to her body and such.
I am ready for a NAP. I want to order a pizza.
3:49 PM: John is home now. Grandparents just arrived. Chaos may ensue but we intend to continue with training.
4:30 PM: We warned Papa several times when he is tickling and bouncing PK that she hasn’t gone potty for awhile….luckily she did just go in the potty. It has been a rough afternoon with lots of mistakes. Luckily everyone is on board….but I never did get my nap!
6:00 PM: No accidents but a Melt Down begins after Portia is dismissed from the dinner table for poor manners.
6:05 PM: Daddy whispers magic into her ear which results in her peacefully rejoining us at the table.
6:54 PM: PK is being read to sleep by Baba & Papa. Her potty seat is in her room and she is sleeping in panties which we will cover with a pull up once she falls asleep. I too am ready for bed! WHEW. I wouldn’t say day one was a huge success, but everybody did learn a lot.
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Category: Babies
Tags: Booty Camp Training
