Potty training | Speed course | 1 Week before school!

Preschool started last Monday, and no diapers were allowed in the school

The week before preschool started there was a parents meeting, and I had a translator with me (thankfully). It was mainly a lot of administration as a lot of papers needed to be signed (or not if you don't agree). Until that moment I thought my daughter needed to be present from 8am-4pm every day of the week, but I found out they are flexible during that meeting. I could give in estimated times of dropping her off and picking her up. As she doesn't speak the language yet, I thought only mornings (5 days a week) would be enough for her to get used to the routine. I decided from 9am to 1pm would be a good start. At this point she was still stubborn and refusing to go on the toilet, even though we had tried several different tactiques the past months because we knew she had to be potty trained for preschool. Nothing worked, and I hoped that in this case, seeing other children go to the toilet would be motivating for her to try that as well. And then they told me at the meeting, that government regulations say that there can't be diapers in the building. So dropping her off in a diaper if needed picking her up early because she needed a change wasn't an option. When I got home from the meeting there were 6 diapers left, and we decided to explain (again) that she can't go to school if she's still wearing a diaper because it's not allowed.

It seemed to sink in this time (yay)

The next day I decided to put her on the toilet as soon as she woke up, and from that moment on no diapers were allowed until it was bedtime again. One diaper allowed, only at night and that's it. At first it was clear, she found the toilet scary because it's high. Even though sitting on the children's toilet seat and having a perfect step-up, she still kept saying it was scary. I decided to propose to take a doll with her, so she wouldn't feel scared anymore. The first day I spent sitting in the bathroom for 30 minutes average, without her peeing. A few accidents as well.. But the next day there was a huge improvement, as soon as she woke up she went to do her number 1 and she didn't even find it scary anymore. At that point there was also little resistance left to go on the toilet. Progress made quickly. And I was super proud! Thanks doll!

Number two's on the other hand, are different

I remember from my oldest that doing a number 2 on the toilet or potty is totally different, even though they do the number 1 without any problem. It somehow is less scary to drop it in the underwear than in the toilet? She also said that she found it scary, and my attempts to make it less scary didn't work. But I decided to give it some time and try to motivate her by telling her that she'd get 3 smileys on her reward board for doing a number 2 in the toilet compared to 1 smiley for a number 1.. Maybe that would help?

Source

It helped!

Apparently this was a motivation for her to try going to the toilet every time she needed to. Every day went a bit better, less accidents and even in the first few days some dry nights as well. It took me 6 days to get her potty trained without having any accidents. I guess that's a mission accomplished, and I wasn't even nervous to bring her to preschool last Monday. She went there 3 mornings this week, and she didn't even have any accidents at school, so well done little girl!
I'm very proud of her, and even though I still had to buy 1 pack of diapers (for the nights to be sure), I know this is a new chapter in our lives, soon without any diapers.. yay!

Funny moment: When I told her she'd get 3 smileys for a number 2 on the toilet, she suddenly thought of a way to try to convince me that she needed to get 6 smileys for her number 2, because she did 2 of them. Little smart-ass... Didn't work though, but she gets an A for her creativity trying...

How her first week of preschool was for her, I will soon write in another post... Have a good day!

~Anouk