Potty training update

There are a few people who asked for more information on the potty training, so I wanted to post an update on how it is going now that we have the new supported toileting seat.

The potty training is in full swing!  Emma seems to love her potty seat, loves going in the actual bathroom, loves washing her hands afterwards, loves helping me switch the light on/off, loves the praise she is getting.  She really is ready for this stage of her life and I'm happy that we are able to support her in meeting such a huge milestone!

The biggest issue with our potty training is that she still is not able to tell us when she has to go.  She does have a sort of fuss, but it could be a general you're not paying me any attention fuss or an I have to go to the bathroom fuss or any number of other reasons why she might want to be a bit fussy.  Each time she does fuss, though, I ask her if she has to go potty and give her the Yes/No hand gesture to tell me and each time she does respond.  Truth be told I wasn't so sure in the beginning if she was saying Yes/No with intention when it came to the potty questions.  But, she has totally made a believer our of me!  Emma knows when she has to go - and always picks the correct hand.  There were a couple of times when I thought for sure she didn't have to go but since she said Yes I put her on the potty and sure enough she went!  I shall doubt my Emma no more - it's completely evident to me that she does not want to go in a diaper anymore and would chose the potty if given the opportunity.

The other issue with the potty is that Emma can't sit or stand independently, so it makes potty training harder than wearing a diaper on her caregiver (i.e., usually me).  I had her in diapers but today switched her over to pull-ups.  Our bathroom does not have a changing table in it or anywhere to put Emma to put on her diaper that is pretty much always dry.  So what winds up happening with the diaper is that after she goes potty I take her to another room or lay her on the kitchen floor to put on her diaper.  Then, I take her back to the bathroom to wash and dry her hands and mine and then take her back into another room to continue whatever we are doing.  With the pull up I basically pull down her pants and pull up, put her on, take her off and pull up her pull up and pants, wash our hands and then go about our business.  This is much better on my back so I decided to implement this method sooner rather than later.  I think the switch to pull ups is a good one and hope that it continues to work out for us.  For now, though, when she is not at home we will continue with the diapers.  We are not trying to potty train in public right now (the only exception is school) since Emma is not very cooperative in public restrooms and we don't have all the logistics of it figured out just yet.  One step at a time......

And I'll leave you with a couple photos of Emma working on kneeling while watching Sesame Street.  She loves that show and I let her watch a bit after school while I position her to work on certain skills such as sitting, kneeling, pull to stand, etc.  It's quite sneaky of me since she has school and therapy in the morning before she comes home for lunch and a bit of tv followed by a nap.  This week she was interested in kneeling....that is until she wasn't!

Interested in kneeling and talking to Abby Cadabby

I think she is saying "Mom, give me a break!  Can't I just get a little snuggle while I watch the tv????"

Notice that she was doing so well that I felt OK to move away from her to take a photo?  Way to go my Emma Bean!