Potty Training Lucy

Holy cow, Lucy is so cute. Let's just start off with that. She makes all of us laugh so much. She also drives us crazy sometimes, which is why she's lucky she's so cute. 

Now, onto the topic of the day. Potty training Lucy. Lucy started pooping in the potty over a year ago (She was almost 15 months). She just decided to start doing it and it was freaking awesome. Dallas and I thought we must be the best parents ever and that this parenting thing must just get easier and easier with each kid. How naive.

I didn't want to make Lucy's decision to poop in the potty a big deal or start legit potty-training. Partly because that required effort but also because I didn't want to smash her inner enthusiasm and end up having to make charts, give treats, etc when she was happy to go number two for nothing right now. 

I was also really pleased that Lucy did all her poops in normal-sized potties. I really dislike little potties because you have to CLEAN them EVERY TIME and it's just more stuff in the bathroom and you have to run to wherever the little potty is located. No fun. However, sometime in February, Dallas decided we should buy a little potty for Lucy and start "encouraging" her a little more. I pushed back - especially with buying the little potty, but Dallas felt strongly about it and promised he would always clean the potty. So we bought it.

Lucy did fine with the little potty for the first few months, but we never really got peeing down. And then the babies came and we had about three months of total back track - back to pooping in diapers and that was really not cool. And then one day, she just decided to poop in the potty again. Wala. But we still didn't have pee-ing down. We have thought so many times we were close (so close that I would cancel diaper purchases) and then we weren't (and I'd make a mad dash for diapers). 

Well, here we are. More than a year after Lucy first started sitting on the potty and I think she's finally potty-trained. The thing that sealed the deal - chocolate chips (now progressed to Halloween treats) and panties. The road to get here included days of Dallas setting a timer and putting her on the potty every 20 minutes, then every 30 minutes, but eventually, it was just letting Lucy do her thing. Oh - and training ourselves. That's always a big part - me remembering to put her on right when she wakes up. anytime before we go anywhere and making sure not took long passes without having her hop on the potty. 

So yes, Lucy might sit on the potty 7 times within 5 minutes and just do a tiny pee-pee each time (because she's figured out she can get more chocolate chips that way), but that's okay. She is learning how to control herself and her panties are dry and we are happy! And we are on about day five of this. I have also noticed that is best to give her the thin panties (not the thick training panties) because she notices right away if she is starting to pee when she's wearing the thin ones. 

Anyway, here is a picture of her and her sisters choosing a treat for going potty. We always include Emma and Alice in Lucy's rewards. That way Emma and Alice are motivated to help and encourage her. It's kind of cute because now whenever Lucy pees she calls out, "Emma! Alice! Emma! Alice!" and then hurries to get treats for all three of them. Back in the "poop days", the reward was watching 5 minutes of your favorite show. Each girl got to pick one so it was a total of 15 minutes. We finally had to stop that when we realized the "weight" Lucy carried to make sure they got to watch a show each day. 

And today we went to Costco and looked for heaters for our basement. If you have any recommendations, I'm open. I've noticed that I can hardly buy anything now without checking reviews.

We came home and here's Lucy once again at the pantry looking for a treat. "I get one more treat, mommy." 

Coming back from the park with friends!

And here are our happy, gurgling babies! I love when they kick their legs and their wide-open mouth smiles. They are SO SWEET! Just watching these videos makes me think, "Oh yea, we could definitely have more kids!"