Diaper free?

A miracle has occurred in our household. Hannah is diaper free. Yes, I know, she's been potty trained for a year plus. But, that has just been a daytime event. Nights and naps have been with a huge size 6 diaper. We've been torn on how to approach night time potty training -- it really seems like something you can't train, that they eventually just "get it". This was backed up by her dr at her 3 year appointment. So, we've done nothing.

Then, this summer, at one point my mom (who spent quite a bit of time with us) asked Hannah why she peed in her diaper during her nap time (where she didn't sleep). Hannah said, "because you pee in diapers." At that point, my mom suggested that we try to encourage Hannah not to pee in her diapers (especially while awake!).

We started a bribe system. Bribes work great. Some parents don't bribe, but we do. However, we didn't want to use M&Ms or Dibs, what we had used previously, mostly because we were worried that if we went back to those, Hannah would then start insisting on getting ice cream with every poop (when we moved, food bribes and potty seat disappeared, never to return again). So, tattoos became our bribe of choice. Hannah's love of body art lead her to start keeping her diaper dry during nap time (again, not that hard while awake). Soon, we started wearing panties during nap time. The few times she felt like she needed to either poop or pee, she put on a diaper (honestly, if you can put it on, you shouldn't be wearing it!) and left it for us to take off at the end. For a couple weeks in a row she had the older people at church inquiring as to what she had on her arms -- soon, the ones she is close with started asking her if she was keeping her diaper dry on Sundays.

This progressed to the point where she started having nights where her diaper was dry, which she always got super excited about, especially when she could keep it for the next night (we're cheap!). After a week of dry diapers (don't worry -- we only reuse them once, after that they just need to be tossed, even if dry), Kevin suggested going all night in panties. Hannah was ecstatic. We also had a talk about if you need to go potty, either at night or at nap, she could just go on her own to the bathroom directly across the hall from her bedroom (we really talked about this due to nap time).

That was three days ago and every night since (yeah, so this might be an early call for victory) she has kept her panties dry. Funniest part -- the first night I awoke abruptly to a bang at about 2 am, which I didn't understand until the next morning, when Hannah told Kevin that she went potty in the middle of the night and then went back to bed (but don't worry -- she didn't flush because she "didn't want to wake us up" -- plus, the evidence was in the toilet to back up her story!). So, our 3 and 1/2 year old, on her first night in panties, woke up, got up, opened her bedroom door, went potty, went back to her room, shut the door with a bang and then went right back to sleep -- all without the aid of a night light. Unbelievable. One of those moments when a parent goes "how did you get so grown up?!"

Side note: last time we were at BabiesRUs buying Hannah diapers, Kevin and I debated buying a big box or just one little sleeve. I said, "but do you really think Hannah will be potty trained at night in the next two months?" and Kevin answered, "good point - let's buy the box." Well, we have about 3/4 of a box of diapers left... I hope we don't need them (Hannah thinks we should mail them to her friend Katie in NJ).

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Tomorrow Kevin has his first wedding. He is excited for it, but maybe just a bit nervous that he remembers all the different parts to it.

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Our TV fast ends tonight -- tomorrow it can be turned back on. While I am inspired by you who are cable free (plus, envious of your lack of cable bill!), I don't think we will be going that far. My guess is (and this needs to be further refined) that our new policy with Hannah will be no TV on school days and most other days just one show (30 minutes) per half day (no more than an hour total, 5 days a week). I don't think Hannah will be the problem, she has done fairly well without it -- I'm definitely the problem. Hopefully, and I think it has, this week has taught me to be more intentional about her time, and mine own. Will there be TV fasts in our future -- yes, because I'm guessing at times I'll need the reminder. But tomorrow night, I'm watching something (but what? I have a week's worth to choose from!).