We did it! Potty trained in about a week and off to preschool!

[sophiesmom]

I had posted earlier, my daughter was to start 3 year old preschool today and hadn't had any interest in the potty. I didn't want to force her to do it just to go to school. I knew she would enjoy school though, and a friend said they knew someone who used the Dr. Phil approach. I'm not a Dr. Phil fan, but on a whim I tried it, and it worked! (not in a day like he claims though!)
What we did: (note:: stayed in for quite a few days!)
1. TUESDAY- spent a whole day playing w/ Betsy Wetsy (thanks to grammie's help). she gave betsy bottles, betsy wore panties, betsy peed on the potty. after a few hours of that (and making big deal of betsy), sophie and grammie made cupcakes. I came home w/ some balloons and party hats, and we had a party for betsy. ( we even dressed other dolls and sat them at table!). told her that tomorrow would be her day, and if she tried the potty one of the princesses would call her.

2. let her walk around w/out anything on. she was reluctant to go on potty, but finally she did. several times she did freak out a little, but i did a lot of silly/goofy things and she fell for it (like a race to the potty). that night cinderella (aka my aunt) called and left a message. the next morning she grinned ear to ear listening to it!

3. next few days still walked around house w/ nothing on hiney. if we went out it was a pullup only. she was doing good on potty (pee) but not interested in wearing panties.

4. SUNDAY - went to her friend's party and was ok wearing panties. no accidents! not even in car. i bought her potty seat w/ me in case.

5. MONDAY - had planned on going to phila zoo w/ daddy. we decided to take her in panties. she did great again!

6. TUESDAY (today)- went to school in panties! didn't have an accident and even told teacher she had to go. also pooped a little in potty tonight, and even peed in a restaurant!

Also, EVERY night someone has been posing as a disney princess and leaving messages (even me!) she is LOVING it. we were running low on princesses (since some will only call for poopy), so minnie mouse called today. :-) Snow white will call today since we had some poopie in potty.

Well, just wanted to share in case this can help others! we really thought preschool was out this year, but we achieved our goal pretty smoothly. :-)

[Jeanne]

Congratulations! Nice feeling, huh?! Good for her! And you did a great job with encouragement. Good idea with the phone calls.

[sophiesmom]

Yeah it does feel good, but now it's a whole new ball game w/ the potty, especiall when we're out. ;-)

the phone calls are working great. every day we use them as incentive, she 'predicts' which princess will call that night. last night snow white called since she did some poopie in the potty.

i also had made an incentive chart. it is 2 roads, one pee one poop, and they lead to a pic of barbie roller skates she wants. she's filled up the entire road for pee w/ stickers, now we have one on the poop side. i was dying to buy them once pee was filled, but i have to stick it out! :-)

[trumansmom]

Congratulations!! Wow! We've been at it for 9.5 months now and while he does great with peeing, hasn't pooped in the potty yet.

Jeanne
Mom to Truman 11/29/01 and Eleanor 4/14/04

[Melanie]

Congratulations!

That's funny...the princesses...LOL.

[sophiesmom]

oh yeah! we still have the characters call, it gets tough when she wants mickey, pluto or goofy to call. i try to imitate them, it's funny! i've been taping all the messages on a tape recorder so she'll be able to hear them when she's a teen!

she's also been pooping on the potty which isgreat, she's just about filled up her potty chart, so i think this weekend we'll be going to toys r us for her barbie skates! :-)