Potty training boot camp day 1

First we got rid of the diapers. Her overnight diaper was soaking wet when we took it off in the downstairs bathroom. I went to put cream on K's bum up in her room, and saw a little poop dangling. We rushed to toilet where she pushed a little more and it fell in. Great excitement!
Then we put underwear on K and told her to keep them dry and tell Mama/Papa when she needs to pee or poo. Had her keep checking things were dry. Had her drink some water and juice. A while later she squats down to play with a puzzle, and oops, there's a puddle under her. Rush to toilet to finish off, but nothing more there. Tell her again that her underwear is wet and she's to keep it dry and tell us when she has to pee. Later she gets a poopy kind of look on her face while standing by the couch to read a book. She denies needing to go. Then there it is in the underwear - rush to the toilet and let it fall in from the panties. Yay - flush poop away.
Then no action for a long time. We skype with her Opa (Granddad) and cousins in Germany. Show them big girl K in her underwear. Partway through the chat, she's standing in a puddle with pee dripping down her legs. Oops. Rush to bathroom, no more happens there. Change underwear and say to keep it dry.
A little bit later, she says pee pee. We rush to bathroom, and there are a couple drops on the underwear but she doesn't pee more in there. Change panties, tell her to keep them dry and tell us when she needs to go. Then another "pee pee" with a tiny bit on the panties, but no more.
And then DH says maybe we should sit her on the potty the next time in case it's more comfortable. Sure enough, she pees in it for the first time ever! And a couple minutes later asks to pee again, and pees in it again! I was so excited! We phoned her Opa to tell him the great news. Had lunch. Took her up for her nap, and she peed for a third time before we read stories. I put her in bed in undies, shirt and sleep sac, told her again to call me if she needs to pee/poo. She claimed she needed to pee again and insisted on taking off the sleep sac before sitting on the potty. No pee. Then she refused to put the sleepsac back on so I left her in the crib without it, despite wondering if her little legs would freeze.

She slept well, woke up dry (having pushed the protector pad off to the side), and 10 min later peed 3 times on the potty (I kept asking her if she had more to pee when she'd stand up to check out what she'd produced). She cried wolf a couple times while skyping with my Mum (farts only), but I was glad she's asking to go for appropriate reasons.  

She stayed dry till finally asking for the potty after dinner. Peed well again. And then I was on edge figuring it might be time for a big poop like she often has before bed. Any time she got quiet, I'd remind her to tell Mama if she needed to poop. Still nothing by bedtime, so I asked her to try to pee before we got PJs on (moved from footie PJs to separates for tonight :( ), and she had success again x2. Then of course she didn't want to leave her potty, and kept trying (unsuccessfully) to pee more.
She refused the sleep sac again and made a fuss before going to bed, I guess because the routine has changed and because we didn't let her drink much after dinner. I let her have a few gulps before bed when she was begging for water. Now she's in her crib with the couch blanket because I don't have any other little cover for her as she was in sleep sacs in cooler weather till now. I might have to make an IKEA run soon for bedding. I'm so proud of my little girl! She asked for a diaper a couple times earlier this afternoon, but not this evening.
By bedtime, the potty was winning 6 to 3 over the panties/floor. No more accidents so far! By dinner, each time I'd ask if she was still dry, she'd say "Ja" (yes) really loudly with a huge grin on her face. I guess she's almost as proud of herself as I am of her. She's now the proud owner of a play-doh play set, a new glittery ball, and a few stickers as rewards for being such a clever girl. I didn't want to go with rewarding her with food, so stickers it is (with bigger things from the dollar store for big achievements).
I sure hope tomorrow will go as well, and that she doesn't have any big accidents tonight.

In other news:
Her bottom right eye tooth has been slowly coming in for a week or so now. I had her checked out for a UTI after she'd been complaining about "popo weh" (sore bum) for a few weeks, but the culture came back negative. I don't know what's going on with that, but I hope getting out of wet diapers will do the trick. Getting a urine sample from a non potty trained kid is tricky! Her speech is improving in leaps and bounds now. She sings Twinkle Twinkle, Head and Shoulders, Wheels on the bus, and the ABC song really well now. She can even carry the melody well. She can count to 11 well in German (I'm not sure about English), but likes to skip over 3. She's taken to teasing us with speech with things like "Cacagei" (supposed to be Papagei = parrot) - she'll say it wrong, say it properly when prompted by me, and then go back to saying it wrong just for fun. She can say big words like "gluecklich" (happy) and "Aufkleber" (sticker) without any trouble, and is putting together tons of two word sentences and even many three word ones. The occasional four word one pops out too. It's really great how well she can communicate most of the time.
She tries to jump on two feet but can't quite get off the ground. She loves spinning in circles when she dances, and is a fantastic eater. She's very into her cardboard box house I made for her right now, and loves to have Baby (her doll) look in the windows at her. She also loves to have someone make Baby dance on the top of her wooden blocks container while lively music plays. She loves to read books, and has many favourites up in her room for pre nap and bedtime reading. She'll ask for them by name now, and has very definite ideas of what she wants to read.
22.5 months is SUCH a fun age!