Sydney's Potty Train

Now that summer's here, I have a looming deadline of August 21st--the day Sydney starts preschool and must be potty trained. This isn't an unrealistic expectation, but since the cut off date for starting preschool was October 31 and her birthday is October 30, she is basically the youngest kid in her class, potentially presenting more of a potty training challenge.

So, I started to potty train Sydney two weeks ago with no real plan except to stay home and quit diapers cold turkey. I drew an eight-car train, letting her put stickers on it each time she used the potty. (I figured we are potty training, although I knew the pun would be lost on her.) And of course she was allowed to drink juice all day long for three days straight--a real luxury. (She didn't even mind that I diluted it and she began to ask for "juice and water," since she saw me mixing the two all day long!)

Surprisingly, by the fourth day, she was "on board the potty train" with no accidents! Good thing, since the Toilet Training in One Day book arrived 7 days too late...

We've had an accident every now and then since then, but mostly while getting onto the potty. So, I can't complain. In fact, once we got past day 2 and the continual carpet cleaning, it has kind of been a rewarding experience seeing her enjoy her independence..and her rewards.

Her favorite colors are pink and purple, so the last car of the train was purple (only because I didn't have a pink marker). I told her when she got to purple, she could have a toy. I had one toy on hand, and it's a good thing since she went on the potty eight times the first day. So, day 1 she got some purple princess dress-up shoes.

We faultered a little day 2 and 3 because I didn't prebuy toys and didn't feel we were ready to go out to a store to buy one. But when I brought the prospect of a present back on day 4, she had renewed interest. So, the second gift she earned this week she picked out herself at the store. A cash register, which she dubbed her "money toy." She is my daughter! I would've loved this toy as a kid, with the electronic scanner for groceries and the credit card, which you can actually swipe through the machine and it makes a fun sound. But alas, she doesn't let me use it when we play store. Only Sydney gets to be the "store lady." She helps me pick out the groceries and perhaps as a consolation prize she doles out extra money to me from the cash register rather than depositing the money I give her. If only this was the way real stores worked!