Potty Like A Rock Star!

So I still haven't 'formally' started training Maddux, meaning I've not spent a whole day (or even more than a few hours) in the process. We offer it to her all of the time, and she sits on it before her bath every night... Besides that, one day last week we had a few hours before gymnastics, so I put real underwear on her and fed her lots and lots of water, setting the timer to sit on the toilet every five minutes or so. She didn't have any success that day, but something obviously stuck!!

Over the weekend Maddux got out of her bath and went (naked) into her bedroom to get her diaper and pj's. Less than a minute later she ran out, saying, "I gotta go potty!" She sat, but nothing happened. So we resumed our nighttime ritual. She got lotioned up and then said it again: "I gotta go PO-tty!" She ran in and nothing. By this time, we are realizing that she probably really has to go, so we try to delay putting on her diaper for a little longer. It worked! A few short minutes later, Maddux returned and pooped on the potty...totally initiated by her! We made a BIG deal about it, of course. The best part was how excited Eli was. He happened to be standing by the sink, brushing his teeth when the celebration took place and he joined right in, congratulating her and telling her how proud he was. "Good job, Maddux! You're a big girl!!"

Fast forward to this afternoon when the kids and I are at Eli's appointment with the orthodist. Maddux looks at me and says something about 'potty' and 'treat' and 'big girl'. This is not unusual as she has talked about it (very proudly) since she had her success a few days ago. (In fact, she is so proud that she tells EVERYONE, "I poop on the potty!!") It sounded to me like she was informing me she was going to repeat her performance that night. I assured her she would, and went about doing whatever I was doing. She ran to the other side of the doctor bench and started to bear down. I jumped up and asked her if she needed to go NOW, to which she nodded. Thankfully, the bathroom was right across the hall...I could even leave the door open so I could see Eli (the doc wasn't in the room). She sat down and did the deed like it was no big deal. Fireworks. Fanfare. Applause. This girl is on a roll!! Once again, Eli was SOO the proud big brother. The whole ride home he told her, "Maddie, YOU get to pick a treat out of the bag!"