After my adventures at the airport, I rushed home, where Chris had been hanging out with Alexandra. We drove him down to the train station, and then went to the department store in town. I let her pick out two different packages of big girl underwear, and then we went home to start potty training. Now, it's a pretty big decision for a little girl to decide what her first pair of underpants are going to look like, but I think she did a great job. She chose some super pink, super frilly Barbie ones. That's my girl!
The trusty training potty had been hanging around in the playroom for a while. Every time I would see Baby near it, I would tell her that she was going to learn to go potty like the big kids soon. So it wasn't a complete surprise, when I carried it down to the living room and told her that she wasn't going to wear diapers anymore. As happened with every child previously, the first day went great because it was new and exciting. The second day was a bit tougher, with many accidents and her sometimes refusing to sit on the potty at all. But that is where the bribes/rewards came in. If she sat on the potty, didn't have to do anything, just sit on for longer than 10 seconds, she got a treat. If something went in the potty, she got double. Works like a charm, every time.
I try not to leave the house the first few days, so that there is less chance of an accident and less temptation to just put her back in diapers. It is a short sacrifice with a huge payoff. By the fourth day, we were out running short errands and she was officially potty trained. Take that, giant diaper corporation. You have officially lost a customer FOREVER!
Ugh…can you get Charlie to do that? Tips appreciated.