Done with pull-ups? Maybe? Hopefully?

We've been trying to potty train the girls for a long time now. As I look back through old journal entries, it looks like it was exactly a year ago today! We had tried before then, but they had NO interest what-so-ever so we put it out of mind for a while. Emily caught on the quickest and has been completely potty trained for several months now. Madison and Alexa were doing great except for nap and bedtime when they would wear pull-ups (and wake up wet every time).

A couple months ago, Madison decided she wanted to wear panties to bed. We convinced her that if she kept her pull-up dry for a few days then we would let her sleep in panties. She immediately started keeping her pull-up dry so after a few days we stopped using pull-ups for her. She had one or two accidents in bed, so we told her that if she kept her panties dry for several days in a row then she could go to the store and pick out new panties. This is a big deal for her because she is the smallest and we sometimes forget that with items like this she mostly wears her sisters hand-me-downs. So after several days of dry panties, she excitedly went to the store and picked out some new Elmo panties. For days, she told everyone she saw that she got new Elmo panties because she didn't pee in her pull-up or panties anymore. The new panties did the trick and she hasn't had an accident since.

Alexa was trying to be like Madison and keep her pull-up dry because she wanted new panties too. We've learned when it comes to Alexa that she does all things in her own time, which is usually SLOW! She was rarely keeping dry at nap or bedtime so she didn't get to buy new panties. I tried to "reward" her with a piece of chocolate when she woke up dry, but it didn't really help motivate her so we stopped that. She's been waking up from nap dry, but usually is wet in the morning after sleeping all night. I've been letting her sleep in panties for nap time, but she had to wear a pull-up to bed. All of the sudden for the last week or so she has been dry after nap and bedtime. Last night we let her sleep in panties and she woke up dry today!! WOO HOO! So, we will continue to let her sleep in panties and hopefully we will finally be pull-up free!

Ugh, it seems like this has been such a long process. There were times when we wondered if our kids would start kindergarten with diapers or pull-ups. (I know, that's a bit extreme but sometimes you wonder...)