Change can be a good thing

Working toward something and accomplishing it is a rewarding process. To watch your child finally achieve something that they (and you) have been working hard toward for a long time is an ever MORE amazing feeling.

Today (and for the past 5 days) our darling daughter Gabriella has been potty trained!!! She decided on her own to do it - which in my opinion is really the only way to do it. Other methods we tried with Oliver left us all stressed and disappointed. So after having achieved success with Oliver this way, we employed the same method with Gabby. Oliver was 3 1/2 (a little later than average for boys) and Gabby is not quite 3 (a little sooner than average for girls). Basically, we asked her when we noticed she was going or needed to go if she would like to go on the potty. She would routinely said no. We've been doing this for months with no stress. If she said no, we said we'd try again later. So we just instructed on how the process was to happen when she was ready without ever forcing her to go. She had never even gone ONCE before Saturday when she announced she was ready to go potty. We took her then, and about every 30 minutes that day and she had all successes. She was FINALLY ready. There have been maybe 2 accidents total in the last 5 days and she announces to us (and her teachers at school) when she needs to go.

We have given her a lot of praise (and some candy rewards) and she thrives on both. She got to have her Meme and Pepe here visiting that weekend to tell them and got to call her other grandparents to tell them too. Exciting times!

We still use "bye-bye" and "night-night" underwear (Pull ups) for now, but I don't see us having to do that for long because she is staying dry. Way to go little/big girl. What an accomplishment.