Potty Training

We started introducing Elena to potty training when she was 2 years old. We had a small floor potty (Boon MODEL) that she could sit on and have her feet touch the floor. It also had a wide base that she could hold onto the sides for balance. This worked fine…but potty awareness didn’t come for a long while. E wore pull ups or diapers for another year. When she went to school (3 years, 4 months) she was the only one who was not potty trained (the other 3 yr old needed constant reminding, but I do not think he was in diapers). The motivation of “I can do it myself” was absent, as her lack of balance prevented any independence in the bathroom.
After a while Elena wanted to use the Big Potty, but she wouldn’t tell us when she needed to go. We ditched the floor potty and bought several types of seats that fit on the commode (HERE< HERE< HERE). These were fine, but without hand support, Elena would lean back and straighten her legs out, which sometimes resulted in urine flowing down her legs rather than in the toilet…not to mention being a nonideal position for bowel movements. Putting foot support under her feet helped positioning—but that literally look up most of the space in the bathroom. Potty awareness came after many months of bribery, praise, hard work, and patience.
Elena was potty trained before SDR, but we weren’t sure if there would be setbacks post-op. There were none. The surgery helped positioning immensely, as it relieved tone in her legs and helped her realize her torso and legs could be moved separately.
We still have a long while before Elena can be fully self-sufficient in the bathroom, as she cannot dress/undress/balance herself yet.

As of 7/4/9: We have been trying at least one "self-sufficiency" potty trip per day. Normally, this is first thing in the morning, before Jason and I leave for work. It involves getting Elena to stand up, step up to her potty stool, turn around, undress, sit on the potty, stand up, re-dress, turn around, step down, walk to the sink, get on the sink stool, wash hands, and step down (or as we say, "dismount")--all WITHOUT her shoes on (b/c first thing in the morning, she's barefoot). We can only do this in the upstairs bathroom (she is normally downstairs with the nanny most of the day) as it is the only one outfitted with a proper arrangement, and the only one big enough to have the proper arrangement. SHOW PICTURE. On a good day, it takes 10+ minutes, with lots of reminders of "putting feet flat" and lots of help to balance, and then to show her where her hands go during the (un-)dressing. Of course, sometimes, you just don't HAVE 10 minutes before you have a "situation"...