PT Day.

At the beginning of the year - 

I blogged about things I wanted to see happen in 2013

for each member of my family.

We are on target to getting some of them done.

The biggie on Kensingtons list is 

potty training. 

So I looked at our calendar and Tyler and I decided

March 20th is going to be 

PT Day.

Well-PT Day 1 at least.

We use the Lora Jensen 3 Day Potty Training method.

We had unbelievable success with Anslee using this philosophy -

I am not at all expecting the same results with Kensington.

Kensington is a different kiddo.

Also - most things that require "training"

do not come quite as easily to our sweet Kens.

The general idea behind the 3 Day is this:

Do NOTHING but train your child for 3 days.

Literally. Nothing.

No cooking. No caring for other kids. No TV.

No Blogging. No *gasp* FB.

No playdates. No cleaning (except for the accidents, of course)

NOTHING.

You basically attach your potty trainee to yourself like 

an extra appendage. You watch their every.single.solitary. move.

When they start to "go" you physically pick them up and move them 

to the toliet. Thus - every single time they go they succeed because they 

will at least "finish" in the toliet.

Something happens in the brain, I swear, when this is repeated.

They immediately associate the urge to need to go (beforehand)

with it being released in the toliet. 

So - when they used to not think about going to the bathroom -

they now can "sense".

Genius.

What I love: If you truly are not taking your eyes off your child -

you will quickly pick up on their "non verbal" cues that they are about to go.

Once you as the parent figure that out - 

you can get them to the potty before they start going and

and they can get all of it in the potty.

Genius.

In this method: you never ask this question:

"Do you need to go potty?"

You let them tell you.

They get to be in charge of their bodily functions.

Oh wait - they already are.

You find yourself repeating.

"tell mommy when you need to go potty"

and 

"are you clean and dry?"

 Genius.

This method implies that kiddos around 22 months of age 

are "ready"

I do not necessarily agree with that. 

Some kiddos could be successful a little beforehand

and on the same note,

some may not be ready until a little after.

No matter what - parent and child both need to be ready. 

It takes a lot of prep for a parent. Physically and emotionally.

Today is March 1 and I am not prepared to potty train Kensington - 

but I am doing what I need to do to be ready by March 20th. 

We chose this day, because its the beginning of Tyler's long weekend.

With his help - I hope we can be twice as successful. 

We can both be here to tag team and give breaks to each other as needed.

He was a HUGE help with Anslee. HUGE.

So - we will try then, but if it does not work, and she is in fact

not ready-

We will stop and take a 30 day break and re-try. 

I hope this doesnt happen, but if it does, I will be just fine with it.

I think Kensington is showing the signs I like to see 

in order to detect her readiness.

She can sometimes tell me before she goes that she is going.

She has a full understanding of what the potty is for.

She is interested in the process.

She can communicate with us well enough.

I am trying to figure out her bladder/bowel control readiness though.

She typically does not wake up in the morning or from her nap dry.

Even when I monitor her liquid intake.

So wish us luck friends, 

I hope that 1 month from today I will have

2/3rds out of diapers!