Daddy-Daughter Date

If you've talked to me or read our blog in the last six to eight months, you know what a challenge it's been to potty train Brooke.  We started on March 8, 2012, and as much as we would love to declare her trained, we're not there yet.  We are taking baby steps and she is making progress.  As Brooke has been obsessed with Dora the Explorer, I decided to print a Dora coloring page for her.  Then we put 10 sticky foam hearts on the paper.  I put it in a sheet protector and told her every time she pooped on the potty, without being told, she'd get a number.  Once she got all her hearts numbered she would earn her first ever date with Cory.  The challenge was that when she pooped in her Pull-Up she'd get a number erased.  (Thus the sheet protector and dry-erase marker.)  It probably took 5 days for her to get a 2.  She typically poops twice a day and at least once was in her Pull-Up.  Then she decided she could actually do this.  Maybe she was tired of me making her erase the number with her finger.  She went four days straight pooping on the potty.  Sometimes we had to put her on, so she didn't get a number but she didn't lose one either.  I took this last Friday when she was halfway there.

Whenever she got a number she'd exclaim, "I'm going to go on a play date for Daddy!"

She was going strong, so Cory planned to surprise her with a trip to the zoo for their date.  He had yesterday off and the weather was going to be decent (51 degrees is decent for January).  But then Wednesday morning she pooped in her Pull-Up, which put her at an 8.  Fortunately she made it on the toilet that night for a 9, but we were still concerned that she wouldn't make it in time.  I reminded her all morning, and finally she pooped, just in time!

feeling pretty proud of herself

all ready for the zoo, taking her Dora paper with her

The irony is that she pooped in her Pull-Up just a couple hours after they came home.  I'm adding 3 more hearts to the page and we started over again today.  I wasn't kidding when I said baby steps.