C.
How exciting!!!! That sure makes for a good day...though be prepared the process MAY take a little while depending on the child.
For how often, it depends on the child so usually somewhere in the 30-60 minute range, right now I'm doing every 45 minutes or so with a 22 month old for her to keep it dry. Could set the timer between potty times if you want a reminder. How long you do this REALLY depends on the child...just continue to keep it positive encouraging her but not pushing her. We use Yogos as a potty treat right now to keep up the motivation though the 22 month old has been going on the potty since 19 months so she doesn't really need the Yogo so just has one once in a while instead of every time. One who is 3 years old gets one every time and it's a somewhat quicker process because he's a little older it seems. Just one little Yogo goes a long way in encouraging them! :) I wouldn't wait until she tells you at her age since it is a whole new sensation to get used to between being interupted from play for a feeling of needing to go and getting there in time to go on the potty. I'd start with giving the reminders and her telling you she needs to go usually comes on it's own relatively soon after she gets the hang of it all. For how long to sit, as long as she wants to or until she goes whichever comes sooner...you can try to encourage the time to lengthen by reading books to her, singing songs, playing little hand games like pat a cake, etc. We allowed my older son juice on the potty (only time he ever got juice in the beginning) and that held his attention sitting on the potty as well as gave him ammunition to go. As far as pull-ups go, they are simply for your convenience, not a tool to actually aid the training, is how I see it. They are simply easier to pull up and down when you are not REPLACING the diaper every time you take it off/pull it down. Diapers hold more, so we just now went to pull-ups at night as my older son (now 3.5) is not soaking his diaper at night anymore, yet he potty trained soon after he turned 2 for during the day. So, I'd continue to use diapers during the night just because they hold more. We continued using the pull-ups with my older son (and are doing so with the others in training) until after he was trusted to keep dry particularly when we were out...mostly for ease and also because feeling wet doesn't bother them near as much as the mess bothers me, so it just wasn't worth it to me to try to train that way. :) Hope this helps and best wishes to you!!
