Kyla's Potty Party
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We had Kyla's Potty Party on Sunday, 3/18.  If you're unfamiliar with the concept, you basically train your child to use the potty in one day by first training a doll to go in the morning and then training your child all afternoon, ending the day with a big party to celebrate the graduation from baby to big girl. There are several variations of this method out there. We used the Terri Crane book, which seemed to be the most widely recommended.

Although we're not saying the day was a complete failure, it was not a total success.  Kyla is not potty trained.  We did have a fun family day and she enjoyed all her little activities.


Breakfast with Daddy and Dolly in the tent
The book offered several themes to help with planning and we went with the camping/outdoors party.  We had a lot of that stuff already and Kyla seems to like it.  We had the place decked out...our smaller tent was setup in the living room, complete with lanterns and glowsticks.  Brent had a fire going when she woke up that morning.


Glowsticks!


Fishing with Daddy

 The tent was a BIG hit.  She was in and out of it all day.  In fact, I'd say that the main reason this party didn't work for us is because Kyla seemed overwhelmed by it all.  We've never even had an actual birthday party for her, so I think the idea that we hit her from nowhere with this big huge ordeal was a bit much.  She did enjoy it all, though.

The doll is a big part of the process.  We bought  the Emma Corelle doll, which pees on command,  specifically for this event. The doll needs to use the potty correctly and have accidents, so your child can see the whole learning process. My doll, however, leaked!  There was NEVER a time when she didn't have an accident!!!  That was disappointing because I needed to empty the doll and create my own accidents and potty pees, which I could have done with any old doll we already had.

I had a bunch of little activities planned out.  You need to keep the flow of the day going from activity to potty in about 10 minute intervals.  No TV or interruptions allowed!  There were stacks of library, coloring and sticker books as usual...and then some other wrapped surprises.  Most of the stuff was from the dollar store.  She liked the little fishing pole and fish.  She carried around the pole most of the afternoon.  I picked up some of that Moon Sand, which was a big mess.  We also planted a pot of strawberries, but I would be very surprised to see anything sprout.  I'm not sure the seeds actually made it in the pot! 

The bugs and bug collection kit went over well.  I picked up a couple bags of bugs which we continually scattered around for her to gather.  She also had a snake and a big squishy spider.  Her little kit had a magnifying glass and tweezers.  She was really cute with them.  She called the glass her "spy" and would actually use it to scope out her bug before pulling it up with the tweezers or "snips".
 


"I spy"


 


Scoping out the "widdle wizzards"


 


 
I had several bottles of bubbles that were originally meant to be used as a potty activity. The book is full of suggestions for keeping your child seated for 5+minute intervals at the potty with you.  I had the bathroom decorated with butterflies (and a couple other creatures). There were butterfly stickers and streamers on the walls, along with a sticker progress chart and butterflies on the door.  I thought we'd blow bubbles in the bathroom and catch them with this net.  It was a big mess, though - so it turned into an outdoor game. 

She's not very good at blowing bubbles, but she sure likes to try!  Most of it ends up down the front of her shirt and in her mouth.  Yuck!  Mommy was getting lightheaded from them after awhile.


Going after the bubbles!


 


 

Small bite-sized treats are also part of the process.  You give these tiny little treats for just about everything.  Every time the doll uses the potty, stays dry, or even sits on the potty after an accident, you let your child select and eat a treat for them.  You do the same when your child does those things, too.  I used Skittles, honey roasted peanuts and M&Ms.  She doesn't normally get treats like that but for this occasion, the book suggests you go all out.  You're only using just one or two each time.  Kyla spit the Skittles out immediately on the floor.  She crunched the peanuts and then let them roll off her tongue into my hand, saying "peanuts yucky!" and after awhile, she was feeding the M&Ms to Dolly!  Now, M&Ms were good enough to train her mommy.  They should work with her, right?  Anyway, it's obvious that treats aren't going to be the key to potty training this kid.  Popsicles were good that day, though.


 


 


 
I ended up calling an end to the party at about 2:30 that afternoon because Kyla did not go once, not a drop all day.  I started filling her with fluids early, as well as myself since I need to go with her to "model".  I went about 8 times...and she didn't at all.  She ended up holding it completely from about 9am until almost 4pm.  I stopped the party early because I was afraid she was going to bust!  I'm not sure why she was holding it, but it seems to be a good sign that we're not quite ready for this yet.  I'm going to back off a bit and try again at a later time. 

We still had a bit of a celebration afterwards because she did end up having an accident and then putting a tiny bit in the potty.  Hey, mommy and daddy will use any excuse to cut into a cake:)

By the way, I'm posting this last picture to show how my big girl now can peddle her bike herself.  She can go both backwards and frontward.
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