I hope you'll forgive me as I jump around in chronology with my posts. I still want to write about Christmas, and even catch up on some things I missed during my hiatus. Today, though, it's all about the potty. It's real life, people.
Emily has been talking about the potty for a few months now. Off and on we've given it a shot and it has been nothing short of disastrous. My little firecracker is scared to death!! I'll be honest, I did not see this coming. She is so feisty and sure of herself. (Just last night Big Dan and I were talking about how to help her keep that. How to avoid the world beating it out of her. Not that we've experienced that or anything...) But, you bring up the potty and she is a weepy mess. So, I shelved it. And, to be REALLY honest, I was totally fine with that. I was not ready myself. Having a potty trained toddler is a total game changer. I didn't know that the first time around. Now I know. The ease of throwing said toddler in the car and running errands has vanished. It means LOTS of stops in public bathrooms (and we all know how I feel about that), and lots of changes of clothes in the diaper bag.
I mean, I can do it. I've done it before. I just don't relish the thought.
Over the last several weeks, however, Em has been telling me every time she goes in her diaper. Pretty much a sign she is ready. I realized after our false starts that I would need to approach training her very differently than I approached training her brother. For him, if he refused to go, I could threaten to put a diaper back on him and he would be motivated. Emily is more like, "Yes, please, put the diaper back on so I can go about my business!" So, step one: Diapers are not an option. I have given her other choices such as, the totally nude option...undies only...and, of course, commando. She is much more proficient at pulling down her pants than Drew was, so I'm using that as a "fun" part of the process.
Girl is stubborn. The bottom (sorry...) line is, I basically have to sit her on the potty until she goes, which can be a very lengthy process. I know, I know. Most books say this is a terrible idea. But I burned all those books in my parenting book burning party, so I wouldn't know. She has had some good successes. And we hoop and holler and hand out chocolate anytime it happens. I know she is proud when she goes, but I think she is still more scared than anything else.
As evidenced by the fact that she went almost all day without going yesterday. I took off her pjs and diaper at 9:30 (it was my last day to be lazy...) and she stayed dry from then until I put her down for a nap at 12:30. So, yay, for staying dry, but I'm not sure not going AT ALL is a great thing! After her nap, she came out of her diaper and FINALLY went at around 6:30 p.m., just before bed.
You know that whole, you can lead a horse to water thing? Yeah. That.
So, we press on. It will be a lengthy process this time around because of her going to preschool. The toilets at our school are loud and auto flush and obnoxious. I had a little girl in my class this year who was holding it all day just to avoid them! I am hoping though, with all of our other days at home, we'll make some good progress.
We'll see if I can stay dedicated. Maybe I should bribe myself with Hershey's Kisses!
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