The Potty Train

As a part of my Lenten penance, I am whole heartily going to potty train Bernadette. I found this neat Rewards chart:

When Bernadette was about 10 months old, she was very regular. Her bowel movements were so predictable, I decided to put her on the potty every day before her morning nap. This increased to putting her on the potty before and after both naps and before bed time. She did well. About a year ago, when I was 7 - 8 months pregnant, I started trying to train her. She would go days without wetting her pants. She was close to wearing big girl undies full time (except for naps and nighttime) throughout the summer, despite the fact that she got a new sister in May.

I started watching a little girl 4 days a week at the end of August. This is when Bernadette's potty training went rapidly downhill. She was back in pull-ups. In October, I decided to stop watching the little girl and start watching my 2 year old nephew instead 3 days a week. Well, it wasn't too long before Bernadette was back in diapers full time. She had been having so many accidents, we decided to start completely from scratch. We let her wear diapers for a few months and only put her on the potty if she asked.

I am no longer watching my nephew and Bernadette is almost 2 1/2 years old. I decided that this would be a great Lenten project for the two of us to undertake. On Fat Tuesday, I scoured the Internet for a rewards chart that I liked. I found the Potty Train chart. I showed it to Bernadette and told her that for this first chart, all she has to do is sit on the potty every 30 minutes. Every time she sat on the potty without fussing, she would get a sticker. To my surprise, she wanted to start right away. So we began the training on Fat Tuesday.

Each chart has 24 spots for stickers. It took her three full days to fill up her first chart. Her reward is a Mary Poppins movie night complete with popcorn, cookies and special drinks. She gets her first reward tonight after Stations of the Cross, and boy, is she excited.

For the next chart, she get stickers every time she sits on the potty (every 30 minutes) and her pull up is dry. We have been working on this all morning and so far she is 3 for 3! Her reward this time is going to be getting a new book from the book store (or Gloria Deo).

I'm not sure where to go from here. Some other ideas I have for the charts are getting stickers when she gets on and off the potty by herself and when she tells me when she has to go. If you have any other ideas, please leave them in the comments. I am also looking for reward ideas. We are saving a trip to the Children's Museum as the big reward (when she's in undies and completely dry for a number of days).