Potty Training

I wish I had a cute little picture of Hannah by the potty, or Hannah in her big-girl undies, but I don't. So, this post is just going to be a big "THANK YOU" to my fantastic husband, who is potty-training Hannah.

On Jon's last day of school, our babysitter told him that Hannah was definitely ready to start potty-training. She'd been pulling out all of her diapering stuff, laying the changing pad out on the couch, laying herself down and waving her diaper in the air for Lisa to change her. We decided that we'd start potty-training by just removing her diaper and letting her wear a long tee-shirt during the day (but still doing diapers for naps and bedtime).

Originally Jon and I had talked about starting to potty-train on a Friday so I'd be home for 3 days while we worked with her, but since Lisa told us that she thought Hannah was ready, Jon just went ahead and started his first day home from break (a Tuesday). When I got home from work Jon told me that most of his day was trips back and forth to the potty....meltdowns over "I need my diaper"....and handing out dum-dum suckers for going on the potty, but no accidents. WOW.

The following day, I think Jon was ready to give up. We ended up having some family over at the house, which likely had Hannah a little distracted because there was more than usual going on. Jon's breaking point was when Hannah squatted (with no diaper on) over her "Where the Wild Things Are" book and peed on it. Prevented an accident on the floor, but the book was a total loss.... Shortly after the book incident is when I got the call at work that things weren't going well and he was done.

Fortunately, Jon didn't really give up and Hannah was doing a really good job by the time I finished my work week. Hannah struggled with giving up her diaper a little and was having little mini-meltdowns about wanting a diaper, and she wanted us to sit on the bathroom floor (for extended periods of time) and read to her. But, overall it wasn't really that bad. She was good about telling us that she had to go (but didn't give us lots of time to make it to the potty) and loved getting her reward suckers!

On Friday evening my mom asked me if Hannah had any underwear to wear and I had to tell her "no." I never thought that far ahead in this process - we were just doing the long-tee shirt or dress with no diaper. I guess I thought we'd be "training" a lot longer??? So, off we went to the mall and Mom let Hannah pick out some new underwear. Hannah picked "Minnie's" - little Minnie Mouse underwear. Now, the meltdowns that Hannah is having are that she wants to wear her "Minnie's" and not a diaper. Funny how that works! Hannah was so proud to show off her Minnie's. Wow is she growing up fast.

I'm so thankful for Jon being so patient with her this week. Not many dads are willing to take over the potty-training process! Jon spent countless hours sitting on the floor of our 1/2 bath reading books and made countless "false alarm" trips to the bathroom as well. He is doing such a good job with Hannah. I really appreciate all he is doing at home, even if he feels like his entire day is spent sitting in the bathroom ; ) Fortunately, Hannah seems to have taken to this potty-training thing really quickly!