sometimes you just have to go for it

we took the plunge today and madelyn is now potty trained. i wanted to get her trained before i went back to work and since my first day back is monday, this was my last chance. and i had to do it on a weekend because i needed matt to take mason out for the morning so that madelyn and i wouldn't have any interruptions. i am not sure that i could have picked a worse day to do it, but i was determined.

last night i went out to buy her special drinks and treats for our potty training session. i can only imagine what the cashier thought when the items pictured were all i purchased. since madelyn never eats this stuff, i wasn't really sure what she would like and the variety really did pay off for me.

the day began with madelyn coming into our room at 5am (shortly after i got back in bed from mason's 4:30am feeding) to tell us that it was raining. we were having a really bad storm and there was lots of lightning and thunder. i don't think she was scared though. matt and i were too tired to try and get her back into bed so we just let her get up into our bed. i hope that she doesn't think that will be a regular thing. matt said that she played with his face for most of the time she was in our bed. i went to get up for mason around 7:30am (i don't think that he ever really went back to sleep either) and madelyn was wide awake. at least she laid there quietly the whole time. mason greeted me with a big smile, but madelyn's temperament was not going to be quite as pleasant.

first she was upset that daddy and mason were going in the car without her. next the idea of taking off her diaper and putting on big girl underwear was the most devastating news she had ever heard. it took almost and hour to convince her to give them a try and i had to bribe her with some of the candy treats. she was really too tired to try anything new, but i was really committed to getting it done while matt and mason were out. once i got her into the underwear she was really excited about it and the training went really well. the only accident was when she went poopie. she even made it all the way through her nap (2-1/2 hours) with a dry bed! she woke up crying and it was really rough from there on out. she had several accidents, but did stop mid tantrum to go and use the potty which impressed me.

her temperament did improve greatly when her friends avery and tess came over to swim and have dinner. she did have more accidents but they mainly happened in the bathroom when she didn't get her underwear down fast enough. she would be in there struggling to get her shirt off and would pee on her underwear because she hadn't sat down on the potty yet. once i told her that she didn't need to take off her shirt to go potty that didn't happen anymore. she did have more accidents because her friends were just too much fun to stop for a potty break, but there were also many successes.

she went to bed with pull-ups though because i am not too sure that she could go all night and wake up dry. all in all i am calling the day a success because she went in her potty the majority of the time, even times when her underwear would get a little wet. i am hoping that tomorrow will be a lot dryer. the great thing is that this method of training has her do everything. she cleans up after her accidents, puts on her underwear, empties her potty, etc. all by herself so it is easy for me because i don't have to be available when she needs to go; she just takes care of it.

we had to get her trained because she is now in a size 7 diaper (for her height, not width) and there isn't a bigger size to move up to - this was just the end of the line. and we needed her to have the hang of things before we have to add winter clothes to the mix.

madelyn is very excited about it and i have already moved all diaper supplies out of her room. we are officially down to one diapered kid! love.