Did You Hear That?

Did you hear that noise today around 11:32 a.m.?

It was me and Ann Catherine screaming and jumping up and down like crazy people because Lily used the potty!

Today was "Mommy is really serious about potty training Lily" day at our house. No more playing around and sitting her on the potty whenever she feels like it. Today was serious business. Ann Catherine was charged with helping me (which, of course, she relished).

Lily has used the potty on and off, but nothing on a regular basis. I have felt like she was ready to be potty trained, but we have been traveling so much that I wanted to wait. As you mothers know, you have to commit to potty training and truly make it a top priority. We aren't going anywhere for a while, so this seemed as good a time as any to get it started.

I decided to train Lily the same way I trained Ann Catherine. We woke up this morning and the pull-ups went bye-bye. I got out the small potty, put it in the middle of the den and told Lily that was where she had to potty.

In one hour, we had already had three accidents. I'm thinking, this is going to be a long day.

Let me just say that potty training Ann Catherine was one of the least favorite things I've ever been through. A root canal without anesthesia would have been more pleasant. It took a full seven days of me cleaning up puddles before she ever pottied. I seriously thought I was going to lose it.

So I was somewhat prepared for this to be a bit unpleasant. Once we got to accident number five, I was thinking, 'here we go again!'

Luckily for me, Lily surprised me. The next time I could tell she had to go and when I asked her she answered "yes." I scooped her up and ran to the potty and she went. I started yelling and clapping and Ann Catherine was jumping up and down saying, "Lily, I'm so proud of you!!" We called Chris and Lily said, "Daddy, I pee-peed in the potty!" I think that was the highlight for her.

She ended up going in the potty at least three more times. Of course, she also had more accidents. But the important part is she was at least going to the potty and realizing she had to go. And she was pretty eager about it.

It was so cute at dinner tonight. When Chris was asking Lily about her day, Ann Catherine proudly said, "We potty trained Lily today." She was very serious about her role in all of this. :)

I realize this is only day one, but I'm encouraged. She's already ahead of where Ann Catherine was when I potty trained her, so that's a victory. We'll see how the rest of the week goes, but so far, she's acting like a pretty big girl :)