Potty Training

Sooo.  We started the potty training journey on Friday.  Granted, this whole past year, we've worked on this off and on, but never consistently.  In all honesty, it was completely my fault.  She had shown interest, but especially after I got pregnant, I just didn't have the want to.  Plus this year has been crazy.  Cray-Cray.  Something major going on all. the. time.  Things finally started calming down after the youth rally in August, and I committed to working with her pretty hard core after that.

I knew when I really started working with her, it would need to be a couple of days when we would be home for the majority of or whole day (that happens pretty much almost never).  I also didn't want to deal with a potty chair or very many pull ups (especially not at home).  I wanted her to be completely self-sufficient to potty at home--lights on and off, hands washed, clothes on and off, and wiped.  That way when her brother gets here, if I'm tied up with him, she will be used to going on her own anyway.

So we spent the day Friday in real big girl panties.  And it was absolutely awful.

slave to the tiny person, the bathroom, the towels, the carpet cleaner...

I tried my mission of taking her every 10 minutes and making her try (and also to help prevent accidents).  However.  Most of those times, she knew she didn't have to go and we struggled through stubbornness and tears and aggravation and a whole lot of sitting with no potty success.  She peed six times that day--only one was in the toilet.  And she pooped.  Yeah, that wasn't in the toilet either...

except when she's pregnant and can't.  yay.

I was exhausted, impatient, and frustrated.  And worst of all--she could tell.  I never yelled at her for any accidents, but by the third one she picked up on my tension; she was crying and apologizing and I felt terrible.

The weekend was busy and spent mostly out of town, so I knew we weren't even going to attempt anything then.  Monday was full of errands and doctor's appointments (and some weekend recovery), so we didn't deal with anything then either.  But Tuesday, we had to kick it back in gear...although I really didn't want to.

So when she got up Tuesday, I sent her straight to the bathroom--and would you know it, she peed!  We were both so excited and giggly :)  I was already feeling a little better about the day.  But the trickiest part as I had learned from Friday was that first time after she woke up (it takes a while for her bladder to fill back up after the night apparently).  Much to my delight, she didn't fight me this time when I made her go try to potty every 20 minutes.  However, I didn't quite catch her at just the right time and she had an accident.  It was a bummer, but we were both ok with it and stayed positive.

And let me tell you something--that is the only accident she has had since!  Twice yesterday (Tuesday), she peed a tiny bit in her panties, was able to stop it and hold it and make it to the toilet to finish.  HUGE progress!  I can't tell you how much we have smiled and giggled and clapped and danced a little through these past two days :)

She's still in a pull up for a short trip somewhere and a diaper for longer trips and at night.  I'm a little nervous about nighttime training just because she sleeps so long (at least 12 hours a night...I know how lucky I am and I love every minute of it!).  But we'll work on that once we've for sure mastered the day time.  Plus she hasn't pooped in the toilet yet, so we have that milestone to accomplish too.

But let me tell you...one bad day of training, and then something just clicked.  I could NOT BE HAPPIER!!

Complete-ish.  At least peeing at home, we're good.  I'll take it!

If you're going through the potty training struggle, hang in there.  It's annoying and exhausting and pretty frustrating, but it's a necessary evil.  Unless we want to be hated by Kindergarten teachers everywhere!

Now, here's hoping she doesn't revert back when her brother gets here in a few weeks...

love, angie