I am EXHAUSTED. (Mommy here...)
We're on Day #2 of potty training. I am now chucking out Toilet Training in Less Than a Day (by Nathan H. Azrin and Richard M. Foxx) and pulling out Potty Training for Dummies (by Diane Stafford and Jennifer Shoquist).
Yep, that 2.5 hours of potty training didn't do the trick. Day #1 had 6 accidents (8 if you count the 2 pees in the bath that I chose to ignore) and 1 accidental success. Day #2 has had 4 accidents and 1 success. At this rate, if we keep reducing Esmé's liquid intake, we might get down to 0 accidents in a few days.
We HAVE learned a few things.
- Esmé far prefers candy treats to salty treats for her rewards.
- She doesn't like soda - it "bites."
- Chocolate soy milk is the drink of choice, even when given a dozen alternatives.
- She knows all the steps. We have practiced them over and over, especially after each accident.
- She can sing Twinkle Twinkle Little Star while washing her hands for hours.
- And that's when several of the accidents happen.
And we've all kinds of potty tiny talk. Like this conversation:
Mommy: "Does Esmé wear diapers?"
Esmé: "I not wear diapers ANY MORE!"
Mommy: "Does Esmé pee in the potty like a big girl now?"
Esmé: "I not pee in potty."
Mommy: "So where does Esmé pee?"
Esmé: "I not pee ANY MORE!"
Or monologues like this:
Esmé: "Don't pee pee on the chair! Don't pee pee on the floor! Don't pee pee on Mommy! Don't pee pee on blocks! Don't pee pee on elephant! Don't pee pee on drum! Don't pee pee on train!"
You think that'd cover it, wouldn't you?
Or debates over whether you can use the same piece of toilet paper on your bottom and then on your nose...
Other not so nice statements include: "I WILL touch my poopy!"
Just for a relief, here are some non-potty tidbits, too:
After reading a book about a pig: "I NOT girlie any more! I pig!"
"Ten little piggy toes in Mommy's nose" as she sticks her foot in my face.
"Mommy snowman" after she applies lotion liberally to my face.
And reciting her memory verse at night: "Jesus cares for you." She adds to that: "Jesus cares for Pappa! Jesus cares for Mommy! Jesus cares for Pooh! Jesus cares for Tigger! Jesus cares for big toes! Jesus cares for ankles!" And just about everything else she sees.
Since the last few days have been with minimal dress and little time for cameras, here are a few photos from our trip to visit the Portland cousins a week ago.
A rest stop on our walk to the Dollar Scholar.
Eating popsicles.
Meeting Mommy's Uncle Leo in style.
Listening to the cousins in the band.
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13 comments:
Oh dear... I was thinking about starting to potty train my son in a couple of weeks :) Hope it gets better for you soon.
I'll be joining you in the potty training escapades next week after a family reunion this weekend. We've tried a little bit so far and had some success, but who knows what will happen when it's really time to buckle down.
Good luck!
We had a potty party! Got a couple of potty training friends together, each mom brought a new pair of undies and secretly gave them to the hostess. Each kid took a turn on the potty and everyone sang this song after going "pee pee in the potty pee pee in the potty, _____ went pee pee in the potty!! YAY!!" We read potty books with our friends, talked about how we only go pee pee in the toliet, and watched a potty show on tv. THEN, the potty princess (mom with a tiara and a toliet paper skirt) came and gave each kid a new pair of panties to unwrap! After that Lyssy was potty trained!!
I am sorry, but that last comment had me laughing out loud hysterically. Whatever works, but really, the whole idea seems a little whacked to me. My advice-not that you are asking for it or NEED it-is to simply put the potty chair where she can see it, touch it, use the bowl as a hat. Have her sit on it at different times during the day. She will get it. Really, they will get it when THEY are ready, not when you are. I have done that with three of my four (clearly not the first one), and I would dare say that it has been quite easy. GOOD LUCK, though!
Good luck! I can't tell you how the whole idea of potty training Wesley terrifies me . . . I'm glad I have other bridges to cross first! Those potty conversations she has are hilarious though. I hope the next few days go better for you!
Potty training is so not fun! I remember the days. She will catch on soon enough. If you can get a already potty trained cousin to set an example and maybe take Miss Esme with her... show her how the big girls take care of going pee.
Someone that isn't Mom... cause when your a kid everybody knows that Mom's don't have a clue. ;)
ToOdLeS.
In my defense... the potty party was simply for fun. Potty training can be very frustrating for moms and kids alike and there is nothing wrong with adding alittle fun and excitement to it.
Don't despair! At 12 months, Bear wouldn't let me change her diaper anymore. I am serious. So instead of fighting her to change her diaper, I just potty trained her. It took one week of at least 6 accidents a day. However, I found that by sitting her on the potty as soon as she woke up in the morning and after nap and right before bedtime for that horrible week, she could experience some success and I think those successes helped her decide that it was better than diapers. Every time she peed on the floor, I would walk her to the potty and say, pee goes in the potty, not on the floor. I didn't use rewards. During the second week, she had a lot fewer accidents. But don't wait til she tells you she needs to go. That comes later, especially for children under two or just over two. You take her to sit there to "try" to go every couple hours, maybe as frequently as every 30 minutes - depends on how fast she metabolizes liquids. With Bear, at the beginning, if I didn't take her to sit on the potty every thirty minutes, I would end up with a lot of accidents. My problem with Bear that first week is that she wouldn't sit on the potty. Now at 22 months, she is able to tell me when she needs to go and only has the rare accident (knock on wood!).
Oh, and let her watch you go to the bathroom too, if it doesn't bother you.
Hope this helps.
That whole post cracked me up! To be honest, I have no intention of potty training. I figure adults know where to use the potty, so Levi will eventually figure it out. However, this post makes me want to do some official potty training just to get funny toddler comments. I laughed out loud over a few of them.
Yeah...I am so glad to be past those days. Here's waht I know: every kid is different and responds to different training tactics. My oldest was 4 (YES,4!) before he would do #2 in the potty. One day I realized he was scared to death of being sucked in the hole and as soon as we talked about it, he was fine.
My youngest was potty trained really fast because his dad let him go outside once and he thought that was cool, so he quit going in his Pull Up, but we had to retrain him to pee IN THE HOUSE, NOT OUTSIDE!
Here are some things I tried with my kids...(http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/817173/useful_potty_training_tips_for_hard.html?cat=25)
Maybe they'll help. Maybe not. Just know Esme will get there - and when she does it will be a great day for everyone and you will look back on this experience and laugh...kind of. It's more like a chuckle and then a heavy sigh.
It's truly amazing how our life can be consumed by poo and pee....for such an extended period of time, you wonder if you'll ever just go to the bathroom and NOT think about the size, color, solidity.....*big sigh*
oh, the joy of potty training, NOT!!! we tried it for a couple of days at 2; we were triumphant at 3:P
we didn't care in between:)
good luck, j!!!
love,
dani xxx
Kady's doing great on the potty training. So well in fact, that she takes her diaper off in the middle of the night, switches to panties, and then pees in the bed. . . : ( Good luck!!
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