potty time

The last two weeks our family has been besieged by a terrible cold virus (likely courtesy of Reese's classmates). Reese was the first to go down, followed by Paige, and then by Daddy.
Somehow Mommy avoided the bug--I thank years of teaching small children for building my immune system. That, or the universe knows that someone had to stay well and keep the house running.

The only good thing that came from our virtual house arrest (combine sick kids and cold rainy weather), is that Reese is nearly potty trained. I would claim total victory if it weren't for some sticking points I'll address later.

Before she got sick, we announced to Reese that we had bought our last box of diapers. When they ran out, that was it--no more diapers. Our announcement was met with immediate enthusiasm. She wanted to start wearing panties (cotton training pants) immediately.

There were a few days of accidents on the floor, but after about day three, we had only one accident right before nap time and she was wearing panties to bed at nap also. She's also had multiple days at school in just panties and every day I've gone to pick her up, she's in the same set of clothes--so, no accidents on that front.

We kept our sticker chart incentive program to help her along, but added a bonus that proved motivating in the first few days: Skype calls with Grandpa Righter. In her enthusiasm to announce her successful potties to the world, Grandpa Righter was included in the list of people she just had to tell. (The others on the list were mommy, daddy, Paige, and Annie--as well as anyone else in the house at the moment.)

Like I said, our victory has been sweet, but not nearly complete. For some reason, Reese is terrified to have a poop in the potty. She will withhold her poop until night time (when she's still wearing a diaper) and then poop in her diaper and demand a change. I've got a transition plan in mind--we're keeping diapers around for the poops, then we'll move to pooping on the potty in a diaper, and finally on the potty without a diaper...I figure we've got time. She's got to be fully "trained" by 3 for school, but that's still 6+months away.