The Downside to Starting Potty Training

Claire moved into the next class at school a few weeks ago, and the teachers really start working on potty training as soon as kids move up into this room. One of the first things they teach them is how to take off their pants and diapers so that the kids can sit on the potties. Claire has picked this up really quickly, and at first she wanted to take off her pants and diaper everytime she saw a toilet - not that she really wanted to use it, but she just wants to sit on it. Occasionally she will go, so we've not discouraged her, but it does get old when she tries to take her pants off several times in a 15 minute span.

As I was writing the last post, Claire was napping peacefully - or so I thought. [Oh - I just felt the baby move! Love that feeling!] I was finishing up the post and started hearing her rustling around in her room. We'd started locking the door again when we left the room for bedtime or naptime to encourage her to stay in her room, so I headed down the hall to get her. I opened the door to find my 2.25 year old standing in the middle of the room with no pants, no diaper (!), and the partial contents of her diaper on her hands, legs, and a few spots on the rug (!!!).

I quickly assessed the situation and went into triage mode. Wipes were not going to cut it for this mess, so I snatched Claire up and got her in the tub. Once she was clean, I called Robert, knowing that he was probably either on his way home or about to leave the office. He walked in the door a few minutes later and took Claire upstairs while I cleaned the room. Fortunately it was a much easier clean-up job than I expected (Resolve is awesome!). We debated getting a steam cleaner, but it was such a small area it didn't seem worth it. Plus, it looks like we're not too far away from full-on potty training, and I expect that means many more accidents in the future, so we decided to wait a little while on the deep clean.

Robert and I both talked to Claire about leaving her diaper on unless Mommy, Daddy, or one of her teachers is with her. The next day Robert went in after her nap and caught her taking her diaper off again, so we are thinking that we might have to start putting her in zip up PJs for naps (more difficult access).

The other big lesson learned was no more locking the door - we want her to be able to come get us if she needs something. We decided to try the Super Nanny method of just putting her in her bed every time she got up, and it only took a few times for her to stay in her bed. After a couple of days, she started staying in her bed without us having to go in there, so it seems to have worked - thank you, Super Nanny!