Potty Training with Muno!
Super mom, Holly, shares with us how she tackled one of the most intimidating of all parenting responsibilities: Potty training!
Holly writes:
"I just wanted to take some time and write a little bit about our recent potty training experience. Our daughter, Hattie, is almost 2 1/2 years old and we have been trying to train her on the toilet since she was 22 months. At first we had an okay time, and Hattie was really into her little green seat, but then our family went to Kauai for a weeks vacation, and all our progress was lost. Man, was I frustrated. One week away from home and all was lost.
"Hattie turned 2 in June, and displayed no further interest in learning the potty skill. My thoughts were that she had just turned 2 and was still pretty young, although she is a very bright little girl. The summer was passing and I fretted because of that old advice that it was easier to train in the summer than the winter. So along with family support, my husband and I ditched Hattie's diapers all together and went straight into underwear. In the past we have done sticker charts for Hattie when she slept in her new twin bed or for brushing her teeth, so we pulled out a new sticker chart for her toilet training. A sticker is great and all, but we felt we needed to up the ante since learning to use the potty was a life altering skill and we wanted Hattie to really want to learn and to be excited about wearing underwear and the whole bit.
"We thought of many prizes and then agreed upon the new Muno guitar that Hattie so desperately wanted. And boy did that do the trick. Days before we actually began, we explained to Hattie that if she went to the bathroom on the toilet, then she got to play with Muno. We used the technique, behavior modification, suggested to us by my sister who is a nanny and special ed instructor. The idea was that if Hattie used her little potty, then she in turn got to play the Muno guitar for a certain amount of time. Then Muno was placed back onto the counter top until next time she went.
"Let me just tell you that she was sad and cried when her time with Muno was up, but then after the third time of going to the bathroom and then getting the Muno reward, she got the hang of it. And now she is an old pro.
"It had been three weeks since we officially started and Hattie has been wearing her underwear ever since. She looks forward to her reward time playing the Muno guitar and happily gives it up when the buzzer goes off, knowing full well that when she goes potty again, Muno will be there to play with. She loves to sing all the songs that the guitar plays and just rocks out. We are so proud of her and all her accomplishments. We would totally recommend to anyone out there to not get frustrated when it comes to potty training and to add a little Muno into the mix. It worked for us!"
