Potty Party

Branna is potty trained! :) I debated about whether or not to blog about this, since it's a somewhat unconventional blogging topic, but decided to go ahead and post it. It's such a milestone and I thought others would like to see and hear the events of the day.

Following the book Potty Train Your Child in Just One Day, Branna had a "potty party" just over a week ago. The whole idea is to make the potty training fun, but efficient. The day went like this: In the morning, Branna got a doll that wets and she helped me teach it how to use the potty. The doll was supposed to have several "accidents" during this time which I used as potty memory building skills for Branna. The morning was primarily focused on the doll using the toilet, but we also had lots of fun reading, doing arts and crafts, and watching a couple of potty videos.

After lunch and Branna's nap, the real potty training began. Seewee and I greeted her with another present of big girl underwear that I had her immediately put on. Every little bit, I would check her to reinforce her being dry and she would get a treat for it. I also had her drink ALOT so that she could use the toilet successfully as much as possible. After only the second time of her using the toilet, she started telling me that she needed to go! I thought this was a big milestone.

At the end of the day, we had a celebration dinner for her becoming a big girl. She also got a few big girl congratulatory presents.

All-in-all, the potty party/potty training was a success. We still have a few accidents here and there, but that's to be expected. Branna has really enjoyed becoming a big girl and getting the praises of a big kid!

Here are some pictures documenting our day:

Right after waking in the morning, Branna opened her doll that she would teach to use the potty during the first half of our day.

Branna and Pongo Checking Out the Package

Branna named her doll Seewee... strange, I know. I have no idea where she got the name, but since that's what Branna named her, that's what we called her.

After eating a little bit of breakfast, Branna and Seewee came to living room to find a teddy bear picnic. This was the theme I chose for her party. We had all of her stuffed animals gathered 'round on the picnic blanket ready to eat! :) Branna had a good time serving her animal friends and Seewee.

This was part of our arts and crafts. I got face paint, thinking that Branna would enjoying having her face painted. Instead, she enjoyed turning Seewee into a Chucky Doll... I had a really hard time getting the paint to come off. Fortunately, it did... and even more fortunate is that Branna didn't want it on her. That would have been very hard to get off!

Branna modeling her decorated hatAt the end of the day, Branna threw her diapers away while we chanted, "No more diapers!" (A few days after our party, Branyon slipped up and called her underwear diapers. Branna immediately started chanting, "No more diapers!")

After all of the festivities, Branna recieved her big girl presents. She really is such a big girl!

A Week of Doctor's Appointments

This past week, Branna had 2 major doctor checkups. The first was a VCUG (voiding cystourethrogram) for her vesicoureteral reflux, which you may remember we had to do last year and was very traumatic for Branna. This year was somewhat better since we were able to explain to her before hand what was going to happen... not to mention that this year she also got ice cream afterwards! :
Our pediatrician called the next day with the test results and while it seems that the reflux is improving, it's not completely resolved. We're not sure right now what the means as far as treatment. Our hopes were that Branna could get off of her daily antibiotics, but we may have to visit with a urologist before making that decision.
Branna's second doctor's visit later in the week was to the opthamologist. We got a little bit better news there. Since it was just a check up, they didn't get a new prescription for her, but the doctor was very happy with how Branna is progressing. Branna got all of the tests right on. Our next visit will be in 3-4 months.