Wednesday, August 12, 2009

Step One - preparation

There are obviously some tools needed and some preparation. Here are the preparation steps we went through:

1) Scheduled a week off from work/daycare. In retro-spec, I think we could have done without this step, but it would have just delayed the whole process. Making a commitment and going for it 100% paid off.

2) Got a little potty. We wanted one small enough that Millie could sit on it by herself and that it didn't slide when she tried to sit on it. We used a rubber veggie drawer liner ($1 at walmart) to keep it from slipping. The ikea potties ($3) turned out to be amazing!! We have 2 of them.

3) Picked up some really nice flashy stickers (little ones) from the dollar store and hid them away.

4) Bought 20 pairs of underwear. Seriously, and still didn't have enough in the first couple of days. Small investement though considering the price of diapers.

5) When changing diapers we started to look discusted (do not laugh) by what we found. We would say "Ehhh, Wet Millie. Thats yucky." Or, "Ehhh, yuck Millie, smelly diaper. Thats not nice." Then continue to change the diaper without anyother emotion. I think it was particulary important to stop giving any special attention during this time. No anger, just don't say anything else and get the job done.

6) At the same time, we started showing the concepts of "wet" and "dry". Show a dry washcloth, then a wet one a couple of times a day. Any chance we had we would show her the concepts - for example - how a puddle is wet, how the sidewalk beside is dry, etc.

It was now time to get started.

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