She peed in the potty by herself!

[Theia]

I'm so excited!

I was giving DD (a young 2yo) some diaper free time this afternoon and had the bathroom door open where her little potty is. I was just going about doing stuff and not paying a lot of attention to what she was doing.

So a few minutes ago she brings me the bowl part of her potty. My first response is aggravation because I've tried to teach her that it is only for potty and not a fun toy. But then I looked inside it and realized there was a little bit of pee in it! Then I got so excited (made a bit of a big deal) and we took it to the bathroom where I poured it into the big potty and we said "bye bye peepee" and flushed it away.

This is the first time she has ever done this on her own, she didn't even come tell me she had to go. We were doing lots of diaper free time until earlier last month when it was kindly suggested to me that maybe she wasn't ready to PL because she was holding her pee and seemed anxious about it. So I backed way off on the amount of diaper free time and when we went for a 10 day stay at my parents place for the holidays I didn't even take her little potty along. We've only been back home for 2 days now.

How can I go forward with this in a way that is supportive to her? I'd love for her to learn sooner rather than later, but I don't want to push her or anything. We've always used sposies because CD wasn't an option for several reasons before now. I've been considering switching to CD, but I'm not sure if it would be worthwhile, and I wouldn't even know where to start with that. If it seems like a good idea to switch to CD, I'll post a thread in Diapering. I'd love to hear what some of the BTDT momma's have to say.

TIA

[ShyDaisi]

I would just keep offering diaper-free time with no pressure. Just give her free access to her potty and go about your day. That is how it started with Micah -- just an hour here, an hour there, and one day, he just started going! It has been almost 9 months now.

[nolonger]

I do it pretty much the way ShyDaisi does. Of course it's easier to leave the diaper off when there are fewer puddles, but sometimes you have to put it on for reasons that are out of the baby's control, such as lots of outings or company, so I don't use the diaper as a punishment or nekkie butt time as a reward.

I don't know if switching to CDs would be worth the initial investment at this point, but then again, I don't have a clue what the 'sposies are costing you. I'd go for flats or prefolds and inexpensive PUL covers.

[Theia]

Originally Posted by ShyDaisi

I would just keep offering diaper-free time with no pressure. Just give her free access to her potty and go about your day. That is how it started with Micah -- just an hour here, an hour there, and one day, he just started going! It has been almost 9 months now.

Thanks. I'll just keep it really low key this time. I wasn't forceful or anything before, but it must not have been the right time yet.

Originally Posted by noordinaryspider

I do it pretty much the way ShyDaisi does. Of course it's easier to leave the diaper off when there are fewer puddles, but sometimes you have to put it on for reasons that are out of the baby's control, such as lots of outings or company, so I don't use the diaper as a punishment or nekkie butt time as a reward.

I don't know if switching to CDs would be worth the initial investment at this point, but then again, I don't have a clue what the 'sposies are costing you. I'd go for flats or prefolds and inexpensive PUL covers.

Hi NOS! Good to see you around. Thanks for the advice, esp about CD. I've wanted to experiment with CD, but if I'm a good shopper I can get DD's sposies for $8-10 per pack of 30 (7Gen) and in many places I've seen them for $16. But I'd rather her PL. We did part time EC until our world got turned upside down when she was 12mo, and have always continued to talk about going potty. Lately, I've been using diaper free time as part of our daily routine. So I'm hoping that all of that previous work has stuck with her in some way and it will make the PL easier.

[ShyDaisi]

Have you thought about Gerbers? If you want, you can do the waterproof pants to make them more trainer/diaper like, but the undies can be used alone once trained. Micah is still wearing the Gerber undies I bought when we first started. It would probably be the most economical compromise.

[Theia]

Originally Posted by ShyDaisi

Have you thought about Gerbers? If you want, you can do the waterproof pants to make them more trainer/diaper like, but the undies can be used alone once trained. Micah is still wearing the Gerber undies I bought when we first started. It would probably be the most economical compromise.

I do have like 6 pairs of those, the ones with extra padding in the crotch. Sometimes her diaper free time is wearing them, sometimes it's not. This time that she peed by herself she wasn't wearing them. When she wears them and sits on the potty, in the past, it was a source of distraction and she would play with putting them on, taking them off. I don't really mind it, she needs to learn that too, but it was a little frustrating because she would keep saying she needed to go potty, and then get on the potty and play with her panties and forget why she was there. Gah! I've got a lot to learn about letting her do things her way. Patience mama.

We didn't manage to get diaper free time in today, but probably tomorrow. Should I go completely nekked or use the panties or alternate?

[ShyDaisi]

Patience is definitely a virtue in this situation...If you let it go and just give her the opportunity to progress, you will probably be surprised at how fast she progresses!

[Theia]

Originally Posted by ShyDaisi

Patience is definitely a virtue in this situation...If you let it go and just give her the opportunity to progress, you will probably be surprised at how fast she progresses!

Thanks for the encouragement. I'm a single mom too, so I'm used to doing it all, and probably do a bit too much with maybe a few expectations that are too high. I mean well though.

But anyway, I'll just stay backed way off on this, and let her do it her way. She has been showing quite a bit more independence the past month or 2, so maybe that's my cue to step back.

[ShyDaisi]

It is hard isn't it? Both doing this alone and stepping back and letting them thrive.

I am trying to stay relaxed and enjoy seeing him become an independent person. It is neat all the things that you see them accomplish that seem so early! My coworkers and I were philosiphizing (sp?) parenting a couple of months ago, and I think it really helped my perspective! I feel that my job as Micah's mom is to help him to become (eventually, far, far down the road) an independent adult. Starting as a baby, he depended on me to provide everything, and while he still needs me now, he is beginning the path to that independent person I am helping him to be. While at times I really want to step in and just push something along for the sake of convenience (for lack of a better word...) or to just do something for him for the sake of time, it really helps to step back, let go of my expectations, and be available when he needs me.

I think that single moms have their own set of challenges that are difficult to come to terms with at times. Feel free to PM me ANYtime if you want to chat! Sometimes its nice to commiserate or get perspective.