Katie Beth's a big kid now!

*lots of potty shots and potty talk to follow*

Congrats Katie Beth!

Giving her independent nature and "I do it all by muh-self!" attitude, I always assumed Katie Beth would potty train early. And I knew I would never be able to force her. I was right on one of two counts. But here we were, about 6 weeks shy of her third birthday and only a novelty-level interest in sitting on the potty occasionally. Her current response when asked when she was going to start using the potty was, "it's not for me."

But on Monday, March 11, she had to stay home from preschool for yet another pink-eye flareup, and I asked her if she wanted to wear big-girl underwear. When she saw Cinderella imprinted all over them, she squealed "yes!" and stripped down immediately. 

And so it had begun. We filled up her sippy cup with bottomless refills of OJ, pulled out the teeny weeny pink potty and parked it in front of the Disney Jr channel. 

She did great! We had several pee-pee parties Monday and Tuesday with singing, dancing and M&Ms, and very few accidents. She had the immediate ability to know when she needed to go. In fact, on Monday afternoon, she said to me, "Mommy, I'm all done with diapers." And I believed her. 

On Wednesday, she returned to school in a Pull-Up. When I picked her up, and it was still dry, I knew that would be her last day in any diaper variety. Our nephew and nieces arrived the next day and were super helpful in asking her if she needed to go, taking her to the bathroom and just overseeing the whole ordeal. 

A lady always wear her tu-tu to tee-tee. 

Of course there's an app for that!
Getting her picture taken with Cinderella after another successful trip to the potty.

Ben told her he was there for moral support, but we all know it was for Doc McStuffins. 

Gotta go on the go!

A little privacy, please?!

Her one hurdle was going #2 on the potty and for that I had to break out the big guns of motivation. We  had tickets for the circus that Sunday, and she knew she had to go once in order to get her ticket. We were all getting a bit anxious for it to happen, and Ben kept threatening her with a babysitter while we all would go without her...but it finally did on Friday afternoon!

At the circus! As an added bonus, Grandma and Grandpa came too!

After that she still needed a little incentive to make it to the potty for that every time, so I hung a new princess dress on the bathroom door. Once she finally did (and not without one or two accidents and quite a few tears from us both first), we called Daddy and yelled on his voicemail, ate a bunch of chocolate and slid right into her new dress. 

Her request - "I want Ben to dance around with me." 

I was so proud of him for instantly putting on his top hat and leading her around the dance floor, with a smile on his face.

You can't see in this picture, but hers was bigger!

So no more diaper butt for this not-so-baby. 

But this little tush is super cute too!