Potty Time

I have to brag for a second.  Today, Eliana used the potty all day and only had one accident!  It is only one day, but I am feeling pretty good about how well she is progressing with potty training.  (knock on wood - hope I don't jinx it!).  We have been potty training on and off since Eliana was about 18 months old when I first bought her a little potty of her own.  I thought between the cloth diapers and a very healthy dose of determination on my part, Eliana would be trained by about, oh, 19 months.  I read the book "Early Start Potty Training" by Linda Sonna, which advocated potty training as early as 6 months old and promises to help you have your tot trained by two.  Despite my lack of experience with potty training a toddler, I was pretty sure everything would be a breeze and I would be an expert at it.  So this whole experience has been very humbling for me as a new mom. 
But now we are back "on" again for potty training and Eliana is doing better than ever!  I would say right now our daily average is about 50% of the time Eliana uses the potty (she does better than that on days that she is home with me and worse on days that she is in daycare with all those distractions).  I am really hoping that she will be out of diapers by the time the second baby is born.  Eliana has definitely shown that she is capable of being potty trained.  Now it is just a matter of how much time and energy I want to invest in it.  For the most part, I have been trying to stay at home with Eliana so that we are always near a potty and have less distractions.  That can be frustrating for the both of us, thus decreasing my motivation to make this a priority.  But as time goes on, she is getting better and better.  Right now our main strategy is lots of time spent in the house without any pants or diapers, asking and taking Eliana often to the potty, and reading books like "My Big Girl Potty" by Joanne Cole.  When Eliana does use the potty, she gets lots of cheers, hugs, and kisses, and I offer her a stamp for her arm (which she only sometimes takes).  So far so good!

#tbt - One of my first attempts at potty training with lots of naked time (Aug 2013)