Potty Training Child #2

A couple days after I took the front off Casey's crib, she told me she wanted to wear underwear instead of a diaper.  I think we had told her that she could get a big-girl bed after she started going on the potty, but it seems like she heard it the other way around.

Back during the first weekend in January, Pat had duty on a Saturday and we had no plans so I decided it would be a good day to start potty training Casey.  8 pairs of wet underwear and 4 pairs of pants later, I think it is safe to call it a potty training failure.  Not once did she go on the potty despite all her talk about not peeing on the princesses or Dora (on her undies).  I decided to give it a break and try again later.  I gave it a few half-hearted attempts in the next few weeks and each time a poor princess would get wet again or Dora would be cursing in Spanish.

I didn't have the highest of hopes when Casey told me she wanted to wear underwear, but I figured it was a good sign.  After 5 hours and multiple attempts on the potty, she finally went on the potty and not in her underwear!  And we finally had potty training success just a few weeks shy of her 3rd birthday.  In the first week she had a couple of accidents but since then she's been great.  We had a few issues with using public bathrooms but I can't really blame her and she was able to hold out until we got home.

Everyone says that girls are so much easier to potty train than boys but I didn't believe that for a while.  I also heard that girls potty train closer to 2 than to 3.  I was feeling a little pressure...I think Jack was potty trained earlier than Casey was.  But once she decided she was ready to do it, it did turn out to be easier than Jack.  It took a good month of me checking to see if Jack had to go to the potty every 3 hours and it took a long time to go #2 on the potty and not in his underwear.  Those were some slightly gross days of hoping to get a pull up on him before he went in his underwear.

So now Casey can and does do everything herself.  She even sends me out of the room if at first she does ask me for something.  The only thing she has trouble with is turning on the faucet to wash her hands.  We're still in pull-ups for night time but it's so great to say that we are diaper free!  And Casey is the new owner of a princess suitcase from her proud Nana.