All Aboard

This past Sunday, Leah was treated to a choo-choo ride at the mall, celebrating five days in a row of using the potty!

After the initial potty success that I posted about, Leah seemed to backtrack a little and wanted nothing to do with the potty for the next week. Then, last Wednesday evening, we sat with her in her room for close to two hours, near the potty, playing, talking, tickling, running water, anything. We finally succeeded in making her laugh so hard (at a somewhat inappropriate word!) that she relaxed and peed on the potty again. That began our five-day stretch of using the potty at least once per day!

Monday was a no-go, but for the last two days, Leah has used the potty twice each day, which is an improvement! For now, the trick seems to be recognizing when she has to go and making it to the potty on time, which I know will get better with time. I am just SO thrilled she is using the potty at all. She wants to wear underwear all the time and only asks for a pullup when she has go #2. It is wonderful! I have been looking forward to this for months and I'm so glad we're finally at this point.

For the record, the Pez dispensers have all been cashed in and some have since been refilled. ;) Woo hoo!

Potty Success!!!

Last night was a BIG night in our house: Leah peed on the potty for the first time! WOO!!!!

If you've kept up with our blog, you know that this is a huge milestone after all of Leah's potty fear after her UTI. For months upon months, we have suggested and encouraged her to sit on the potty, though nothing would happen. We allowed her to follow us to the bathroom whenever she wanted, so she could see it wasn't scary. We bought a bunch of Pez dispensers as incentive, which have sat untouched on top of the bathroom shelf since winter. We promised her rides on the choo-choo train at the mail. I bought special Pixar character underwear. I've tried to bribe her with every sweet imaginable - cake, cookies, ice cream, lollipops. Nothing. Nada. Zip.

Until last night. :D

Dan asked her if she wore any underwear yesterday, to which she replied no. I told him I suggested just sitting on the potty a couple times and she had refused. We both just sighed and shrugged. I decided to try again. I sat in the bathroom with Leah for a little bit, but again, nothing happened. However, she decided she didn't want to put her pullup back on, nor did she want underwear. Just her shorts. OK, whatever. We went outside to play and on a whim, I brought the potty out there with us.

After a short time, I asked if she could sit on the potty again for a few minutes before she chased a ball with Dan. While she sat there and Dan chatted with her, I walked over to her water table and began pouring water from one cup into another to make that trickling sound, trying to trigger something! Soon after she noticed this, she said she wanted me to pour some water on her. I poured it on her hands and feet. Then, she wanted the cup herself and began dumping it all over her body - all while sitting on the potty. It was hot, so Dan took the dogs inside during this. Soon, the water table was just about empty and Leah asked for more water.

I figured, Oooh, maybe the sound of the water filling the table will do it, so I went to grab the hose. It was kinked up and as I finally got it untangled, some warm water that had been sitting in the hose dribbled out, partly on Leah. Then, I hear, "Momma! Momma!" in the tone of voice that usually means she has to pee. I ran over to her and made sure she stayed seated on the potty and sure enough, SHE WAS PEEING IN IT!!!!

I exclaimed, "Leah! You're doing it! You're peeing in the potty!"

As soon as she was done, I went crazy cheering and clapping and giving her TONS of praise. She got a huge grin on her face, got up and looked in the potty, and told me she wanted to show Daddy. So, we ran in the house and got Dan and we had a mini cheering section going on! We immediately told her she could have some candy and remembering the Pez, she told us exactly which one she wanted. :)

I am so relieved. I know this is only the first step, but this is a HUGE one. She wanted to wear underwear to bed, which was fine with me because she wakes up dry nearly everyday. I was hoping to get her to pee on the potty first thing this morning, but unfortunately, we had a couple accidents. No big deal, though. I am going to spend the next few days encouraging her to sit on the potty every so often and hopefully, we can repeat this success and get her trained. I just feel ten times better knowing that the big hurdle of the first time is done! We will get there!