No More Diapers! (for now)

For a few months now, we have been occasionally mentioning the potty and asking whether Cora wanted to go or not. Since the boys were quite eager to go when we asked them, I had thought she would be the same. But lately she's wanted nothing to do with the potty, even going so far as to say that she likes to be wet and she wants to wear diapers forever. Ugh! I finally bought a potty-training book a few weeks ago (never needed one to give me tips for Aiden and Seth) and read half of it on Thursday evening. I was so excited to try it out that first thing after breakfast on Friday, I changed Cora into the big-girl underwear she'd gotten for her birthday and we started at the beginning. First, we "taught" one of her dollies how to be a big girl. However, Cora had two accidents while we were teaching dolly. It got to the point where she needed to go again and was very mad at me because she wasn't in a diaper and didn't want to sit on the potty to go. The book had said that "for most children, the training is a pleasant experience, filled with continuous adult praise and warmth, and the child cooperates eagerly." But that didn't happen for us! At least not for the first few hours. I was practically in tears as Cora screamed and cried and tried to run to her bedroom and have a diaper put back on her. Finally, she realized that I wasn't going to change her into a diaper and she ran over to potty (still crying) and went. A big smile appeared when the boys and I all started clapping and cheering for her, and she got a treat! After that, there were no more tears and Cora went six more times before bed. Today, she has been doing just as well - going when she needs to go and not needing any reminders. We are still checking to see if she's dry every hour or so and rewarding her for being such a big girl. So until the new baby arrives, diapers are just a naptime/bedtime thing, and hopefully Cora will continue to do as well with potty-training as she has done for the first 30 hours!

A shopping trip will most likely happen in the next day or two to have Cora pick out a new package of underwear. She's so excited!