By Jove, She's Got It!

I've had the Halelujah Chorus from Handel's Messiah in my head all week--why, you may ask? Because she did it. Ella Mae Reber is officially potty trained as of this week. Anyway, if you are interested in some of the things that worked for both of us (two very stubborn women), here you are! (I know that some of you are going through this crazy process too!)

For me:
1. A carpet cleaner, an absolutely essential part of the process. This lovely device helped me keep my cool when the inevitable acccidents happened.
2. No "list of things to do." On the day that I decided to really make an effort to help Ella figure out the potty, I had a frozen pizza ready for action, snacks ready-made, no piano students that day, and basically nothing else to do but play with her and help her make it to the potty in time.
3. This may sound crazy, but the first day I had her try underwear, I made a chart of the times that she ate food and then the times where she would go potty. This helped me to put her on the potty at the right times the following day. It seems like our bodies fall into natural rhythms and predicting her needs kept us from sitting on the potty fruitlessly.
4. I finally realized that I am in control of some aspects of this process. I realize that many parenting books on rearing strong-willed children tell you that offering choices is important. However, if I gave Ella the choice to use the potty by saying, "Ella, do you want to use the potty?" she would always say, "No" and this just basically led to a battle every time. I finally stopped asking and starting telling her it was time to try the potty. That seemed to work much better.

Things that worked for Ella

1. The Potty Dog. I think the potty dog was the most important part of the process. I just grabbed one of her stuffed animals and put underwear on him. Then the first day that I began (intensively) training Ella, I taught "potty dog" how to use the potty. He would get treats (that she would see) for being clean and dry and then more treats for using the potty to stay clean and dry. Potty Dog got to join us for breakfast, lunch, dinner, nap time, etc. He even had a potty chart to keep track of his progress. Once Ella saw how many treats potty dog was getting, she became much more interested :)
2. Gum was a good choice of treat because it lasts for the period of time while she was sitting longer on the potty and trying to go. Also, I only had to give her one piece of gum where I was having to give her a handful of m&ms to try the potty. It seemed a little healthier to me in the long run :)
3. Setting a timer that Ella knew would end helped her willingness to sit on the potty improve.
4. She loved putting stickers on a chart. But, I soon realized that just one sticker a day just wasn't good enough. She wanted a sticker every single time she went. So, we started doing that and in order to win "big" potty prizes (see number 6), she would have to earn a certain number of stickers instead of being dry a certain number of days. (note, because of this, Ella has learned to use the potty as many times as possible during the day. We literally use it about 12-15 times! I say it's totally worth it though.)

5. Ella did much better using her little potty instead of the big toilet. I had been trying to train her on the big girl potty (many more advantages for me), but it was uncomfortable to her and I think kept her from trying. Plus, the advantage of the little one is that you can move it around and put it wherever she is going to be--in front of the TV, outside in the yard, etc!
6. The day before we began intensive training, I took Ella to the store and let her spend over an hour in the toy department looking at things. I then let her pick out three big prizes that she would get if she was toilet trained. She chose a yellow princess dress, a Dora movie and a Thomas train. Once she had added enough stickers she earned each item. This can be a little pricey, but when you trade in the cost of diapers for the month, it was totally worth it for us.
7. We used the Dr. Phil technique and had "Thomas the train" call Ella and give her encouragement when she started using the potty properly (Thanks Dallen for the help with this!). Ella was thrilled to hear from Thomas.
8. I think at some point in this process, you just have to put the underwear on the child and let them have accidents to get a feel of what their body is doing. This means you have to be willing to let an accident (or two or three) happen. I was amazed at the difference one day in underwear made for Ella.

Well, that was a totally long post, but I don't want to forget this week EVER. Plus, I'm sure I've got more "strong-willed" children to train in my future and I'm hoping that some good notes will help.
PS- For the moment, Kayla has started walking again! Keep your fingers crossed :)