Potty-Potty-Potty All the Time

Riley slept like a champ last night. She didn't wake up once all night. We were up four times the night before. When she did wake up (at 8:30) she and her panties were dry. Amen! I realized that while it had been a great plan in the beginning to keep her naked on the bottom for sleep so late night pottying was less complicated, it had begun to work against me. It was the complete reverse from the early days where if she had something on her brain associated it with diapers and she peed. Now, being naked signaled her it was safe to go. So, we wear panties to bed now.

Riley stayed dressed all day. She pulled her pants down by herself and only asked for help getting them back up. After nap we went to her friend's 2nd birthday. I can't believe the VIB's (very important babies) are turning 2! It was a fun climby, bouncy place and just like the first time we went there Riley fixated on one thing and ignored the rest of the room. Last time it was the rocking horse, this time the slide. She just ran gleefully in circles yelling "slide!" climbing up, crawling across and sliding down again.

We'd been doing panties only for a few days with no incidents so it hadn't occurred to me to put her in a pull-up for the party. I started to feel the "spidey senses" tingling and then with in moments Riley said "oh! pee pee!" I grabbed her hand and the baby bag and did my best impression of running. When we got to the bathroom and by the time I put the seat on the potty her pants were wet. It wasn't her fault, her mommy's just slow. I stripped her down and she proceeded to pee and poop on the big potty. I made a huge deal about her telling mommy she needed to pee and going on the big potty! I was very proud. I pulled on a pull-up and clean shorts and off we went to play.

Riley was not the first of her friends to walk by a long shot, or the first to talk by several weeks, but she appears to be the first one potty trained. I'm so proud of her. Moms at the party asked my advise and I told them a lot of what I posted the other day. As far as peeing on the furniture there truly is nothing you can do, but try to keep them off of it while in the early stages. That's why we've refused to upgrade our hand-me-down couch. There will be accidents even the 8yr old has his share.

The other piece of advise I don't remember writing about here is if your little one's having trouble make up a song. Here's the one I sing Riley:
We pull them up when we wanna get dressed.
We pull them down when we want to go potty
That's how we keep our panties nice and dry!
In all seriousness I sing it 1-4 times a day. It helped a lot. Potty training is a messy, frustrating business with a lot of small milestones. I hope I've painted a realistic picture as I find most resources on the subject vague and unhelpful. It can be done, but it's not easy or brief.

I still worry that Riley will go to sleep at night and forget how to use the potty, but I'm pretty sure there's no going back now.