The Potty Chronicles Continue

Well, after four days of a semi-diaper-free experiment, the results are mixed. Lila does a great job when I remind and bribe her to go to the bathroom (she is now very adept at watching short videos on my iPhone). Leaving the house over the past four days was the biggest challenge. Most of the time, I put Lila in a diaper because it was cold this weekend and I didn't want to deal with a change of clothes at most of the locations we visited, particularly today.

Today was fairly successful. Lila peed on command and didn't have any accidents - until tonight. We enjoyed a scooter ride around the block. I had Lila go to pee before we left. But, if anyone has seen a toddler ride a scooter, you know that it's not particularly fast. Then we ran into a friend and visited for awhile. Lila stayed dry until we got home. Just as I was asking her to come inside to go pee, she sat down on the patio and went there. Oh well. And then we forgot to ask her to pee before a bike ride tonight. She peed in the trailer - no surprise.

So, the potty chronicles continue. However, I do feel like we're well on our way to a diaper-free life in the near(ish) future.

Here are my recommendations for a successful(ish) diaper-free experience - for what they're worth!

1. Stick to the plan! I can't tell you how many times I started making plans to do something throughout the days this weekend, only to remember that we needed to stay home and see this experiment through.
2. Have a dedicated partner. I ran several errands this weekend while Nate watched Lila. He did a pretty good job of watching her and making sure she sat on the potty frequently, but he forgot too. I was certainly the driver, which can be a bit exhausting.
3. Feed your potty trainer lots of salty foods and offer them lots of drinks. We don't drink much juice around here, but I bought lemonade and watered it down for Lila all weekend. She was definitely much more likely to tell me she had to go when she really had to go.
4. Bribes work. I don't like to give the kids candy on a regular basis and I don't like to plop them in front of a video. However, in this case, I was willing to do whatever it took to get Lila to sit on the potty (because sometimes she was pretty resistant). 
5. Don't be disappointed if the diaper-free weekend doesn't work on the first try. I have a hard time believing that any kid potty trains fully after one diaper-free weekend. In fact, experts say that kids need to remain pant-less at home for at least three months after the weekend before you should start using underwear. So, it's really misleading. It should be called a diaper-free quarter. I will say that this type of training does at least introduce the concept to kids who are ready. Lila will spend many periods diaper-free at home, but we'll certainly put her in diapers when she goes to daycare and when she's out and about.

If you have any advice on how to potty train a toddler, feel free to send it my way! On the other hand, if you have any questions, feel free to leave them in the comments section. I'm not a pro, but I'm well on my way (I hope!) to having two potty trained kids.