Potty Training, Take 4 (or is it 5...)

Warning: this is bound to be an epic-long post, but I wanted to document what has been a pretty consuming process for us.

So a couple weeks ago, I decided we would try the potty training thing with Brynn again. In case you aren't aware, we have spent most of the past YEAR trying to get her potty trained. We've had successful days, and even successful weeks, but she always seems to regress just as quickly. I have seriously tried EVERYTHING, but she just honestly doesn't care if she is wet. She knows Collin wears a diaper, and she wants to be a baby like him, so why wouldn't she want to be in a diaper? After some major frustration a few months ago from both Brynn and I, I decided to get the pull-ups back out and take a break for awhile. We started the process again a couple weeks ago, and I pulled out every tip this time.

*I haven't been using much pressure or guilt at all
*we have a sticker chart (where she gets up to 3 stickers each time. She even earns a sticker for just trying. She also gets 2 extra stickers after she's had a day without accidents.) Once the chart is full, she knows she will get to choose a prize.
*she gets a candy for each success
*I've been known to bust out an occasional potty dance
*we bought 14 new pair of cute undies (and yes, that is in addition to the pile of undies from all the other rounds of potty training).
*I've been trying to get her to "teach" Collin how to go potty in the toilet. She pretty much just tells him how he can wear big boy undies when he learns to go in the potty, but I'm hoping it will make her excited about it all instead of thinking its cool that Collin wears diapers.
*we get extremely excited for her each and every time she goes in the toilet.
*we remind her occasionally that she is starting preschool very soon, and there probably won't be very many kids there wearing diapers.
*she has been around her friends and cousins alot the past few weeks, and she knows that they wear undies and not diapers.

See, what I mean? We have seriously tried it all. Hopefully, trying them all at once will be the magic trick? Right? (can you sense my desperation with this topic?). Any way, she has been doing fairly well this time. Her first potty chart was filled with stickers the other day, and so I asked Brynn what she wanted for her prize. She had previously told me that she wanted it to be a surprise, and then once she said she wanted shoes. When I asked her this last time, she said shoes and then quickly amended her answer to "princess shoes". OK, that's easy enough. Then she amended her answer once again to "princess shoes with a princess dress". So, despite still battling the flu, I knew I had to set off to find her prize today, so we could keep the potty enthusiasm going. Before I left, she got even more specific and said she wanted a Tinkerbell outfit. She commented on Tinkerbell's wings. Well, who would have guessed that would be a big request to fill? Of course there wasn't a Tinkerbell costume at all the stores I went to this morning. I decided it was better to return home with something, so I found a Barbie Mariposa costume, because it also had wings. Well, before I even set down my bags at home, Brynn saw a corner of the wings, and got sooo excited. (Mental note: next time I'm bringing home a toy/prize for Brynn, wait until after Collin is awake from his nap before letting her see it). She was jumping around and talking so loud about her butterfly dress. As soon as she put it on, her face lit up. She kept saying "I can fly!" and jumping off the furniture or having me catch her. She has been wearing it for hours, and would only take it off to eat her snack (because I told her the snack would stain her dress). She even wore it when she had to go potty. I just had to get a picture. She is so proud of herself. Oh yeah, and the potty-gods were with me today, because that butterfly costume (the one that quickly made her think...Tinkerbell, who?) rang up for under $5 at Target. Here's our new "big girl" (and I'm crossing my fingers that it works this time).