potty progress

Last week I bought my darling child a new potty! 1st let me just say, I wasn't real excited about the potty training process. I honestly couldn't believe that my almost 20 month old was actually ready to begin. However, she was displaying a readiness so I bought the potty. She kept taking her diaper off, going to a corner and peeing on the floor! Ughhhh! Luckily, she chose the kitchen to do her business so all it took was a towel to clean the mess, instead of having to clean a mess on the carpet! For that - I was very thankful! I set out to get her comfortable with what the potty was used for and I decided that I would take the same approach as I did with Logan.
So let me step back in time and explain what I did for him. I got him acquainted with the potty first. Then I tried pull-ups. I tried, and tried, and tried. I read potty training books, I tried other methods...nothing seemed to work. If he was wearing a pull-up or diaper...he just went in it. I tried buying the big boy undies - I had read that peeing in the undies would create discomfort which would in turn, teach them not to do it. That didn't work either. After a few other ideas and trials. I decided that Logan's main problem was that he wasn't fully aware of what was happening. i.e. he didn't understand the feeling of HAVING to pee...to him - he just did it. So, I stripped him down and let him be naked. I would ask him just about every ten minutes if he needed to potty. Every twenty minutes I would take him and sit him on the potty. I don't know if that was really helpful, but I continued doing it anyway. Then every time he started to pee I would say..."POTTY" (more like I yelled it! Not because I was trying to scare him, but because it always took me by surprise!) I would pick him up and run him to the potty and sit him down and wait. It took many times and lots of towels to clean up the messes, but after a few weeks he has learned the cause and effect. He learned the sensation he was having meant he needed to potty and he started using the little potty. I still let him go naked for another week or two to make sure he was getting it. If we had to go somewhere, I still put him in a diaper because going to a grocery store, or restaurant or other public places was difficult to get him to a bathroom in time. Obviously the sensation to pee was still coming only seconds before the actual task. Now days, Logan can be in the car and say, "I have to pee." and can hold it for plenty of time for us to find a restroom exit, unload from the car, and still make it to the potty in time...but obviously - he is 4 now, and it was a learned process! So at home, he was naked - in public he still wore a diaper...not to mention that I couldn't exactly take his little potty with us every where we went...and he was a bit afraid of the whole "big potty" idea.
With Landry, I am taking the whole naked approach again, considering that it worked for Logan...Now, I just started the process last week, and I hope that it will prove effective again. However, because this is just the beginning..I believe in taking little steps and going slow. I think she has become accustomed to what the potty is, and therefore we move to the next step. With Landry, however; she will go naked, then bring me a diaper. I put the diaper on, she pees, takes it off, and puts it in the trash! In a way, its funny...but also, its encouraging, because she obviously understands that she has a sensation to pee, so she brings me a diaper. This is a good thing...I guess I am so used to putting a diaper on her - that I have to be better about realizing things quicker. Such as the fact that she seems to be getting the whole concept much quicker than Logan did...and I am behind in realizing her readiness to move on. I'll admit, I have been a bit on the lazy side! My big wake up call was the fact that she went through an entire package of diapers in 5 days...which normally would take closer to two weeks! Ughhhhh! So, now when she brings me a diaper, I will be sitting her on the potty instead. If I remember correctly, the hardest part was getting Logan to do it just a few times. After he had peed in the little potty about 5 times, it was so much easier. So...I guess I need to get her to do it a few times so that we can keep moving on! Hopefully she will be in big girl panties by her second birthday...only 4 months away! YIKES! Wish me luck and wisdom and courage...I will need it!