we survived....

potty training that is.

potty training abbey is something that i have put off for a very long time. i have started and stopped it several times because it was so awful and annoying to me. i think she could have had this down a long time ago but you know, she has a lazy mom.

anyway, about two weeks ago i decided enough was enough, it was time to part with diapers. the first few days i put pull-ups on her and just took her to the potty as much as i possibly could. i could tell after the first day she was catching on to when she needed to go but was really not wanting to actually to do it. i took her many, many times screaming and crying to sit on the potty. on the 4th day, i put underwear on her and asked her about every 10 minutes if she needed to go potty. seriously, i am SO sick of hearing myself say "abbey, do you need to go potty?". blah. i also kept her in my eyesight at all times those first few days with underwear. i knew she wouldn't tell me she had to go yet because she didn't want to actually commit herself to this whole potty using thing. finally, at the end of the 5th or 6th day she started to tell us when she needed to go instead of me having to watch her every second of the day for cues. the watching and waiting was the WORST part. it was so exhausting to never let her out of my sight but it paid off. she is doing really well now. at home she stays in underwear and rarely has an accident. i still put a pull-up on her when we go out but she does a pretty good job of letting me know when we are out too. it's more just for my peace of mind and to know i won't be cleaning up poop in the middle of HEB one afternoon. (although, i am sure that will happen eventually anyway...) this girl is stubborn and independent so it didn't surprise me at all that our biggest obstacle in potty training was defiance. i ended up doing things i really didn't want to do when potty training-using rewards and moving the little potty into the living room at times to name a few. but, we seem to  be over the hardest part and i'd say she's potty trained.

also, i probably have gained a good 5 lbs from stress eating during this whole process.