Janie was born 2 months before Nora turned 18 months old so although some people claim you can begin the process around that time, we knew it wasn't going to happen for us then with a new baby and lots of changes around the house. Also mommy & daddy were just tired most of the time those first few months anyways.
When last summer came, I told myself I would try to potty train her then, but then I backed down. I was not sure that I was ready for all of the challenges that came with having a child that had to use public restrooms all of the time. Plus, she had begun to show fear of going #2 and that was causing other issues. We decided to wait until that resolved itself.
Six months later, I'm not sure that it has been resolved, but at least she is not quite as terrified and she actually tries to sit on the potty without freaking out most every day. There was one time that she did go on the potty with grandma but we have never had any success with it.
Well, we decided that it's either now or never and went ahead and took the plunge over spring break. We talked about it the night before at bedtime and then again in the morning. Nora was totally on board. She wanted to use big girl underwear and she seemed to understand that she could not go potty in the underwear, only on the potty chair.
DAY ONE
So the first morning, she hung out with no pants. She ate, played, watched some TV, threw fits, etc. All in the nude. I had her sit on the potty every 30 minutes to try and she wasn't going. At all. After a couple hours of this I began to wonder if she would go at all before her nap time. I gave her a big cup of water/juice and she drank it all up. Then, around lunch time the action started...
First, Nora started to hold herself. I kept asking her if she needed to go potty, which she said she didn't. As more and more time passed, she got slightly more agitated and I could tell that she needed to go and knew that she should not be going sitting on her dinner chair. We kept sitting on the potty but then the fear came back full force. She was SO upset about letting it out into the potty. I do not know why this is so frightening to her other than that it is just a new experience - but, apparently it is terrifying.
She let out a little bitty drop and I made the biggest deal about it. Which didn't really help her get excited about it but she was happy that I gave her a marshmallow. It happened this way again (we were sitting on the potty about every 3 minutes at this point - every time she went back to the table and still had the urge to go she went back, much to her disappointment...) and she got another marshmallow. Finally after about 12 tries, a more substantial amount came out. YAY!! I told her how proud I was and gave her TWO marshmallows. But that was not the end...
Well, she wanted to put on her underwear now. I let her pick a pair and reminded her that we keep the underwear dry. She seemed to understand and was again getting agitated and returning to the potty every few minutes to try. And there were still quite a few tears over this. In my head I was ready to back off and try again another time, but I know she is ready - she is just scared. She's like this in most new situations and I know that she will get the hang of it.
We watched Bubble Guppies to calm her down and it worked. So much so that she went to the bathroom right on my lap. I rushed her to the potty but it was too late. She had gone quite a bit more on her underwear, pants, and me. We put on new underwear and talked about going potty when we felt like we needed to go. She got it. I think. And then later picked up on it and went to sit on the potty, but she had already started in her pants.
So, on pair #3 of underwear, we had a little bit of success but a few setbacks as well. For nap time, I put a pull-up on her but tried convincing her that Ariel did not want to get wet and that she should go potty right when she got up. I don't think she really took to that either and the rest of the afternoon she struggled with using the potty vs. going in her underwear. She couldn't quite time it all correctly.
DAY TWO
I decided that Nora should not wear underwear for day two. That obviously didn't work out so great so I kept her bottomless again. Day two was not a whole lot better. Nora was still terrified of using the potty and I had to all but force her to sit on it. She didn't seem to mind just sitting on her potty in the middle of the living room while she watched Bubble Guppies but as soon as she felt like she was actually going to go... it was trouble.
To top it all off, Janie had to go into the pediatrician for yet another ear infection (this would turn out to be her last before her tubes!) and I knew that I would either have to take a step back and put a pull-up on her or find someone to come over and
At least on the second day Nora didn't have as many accidents. She seemed to recognize the sensation of using the potty but she absolutely HATED doing it.
I was ready to call it quits after day two. I think I hated it more than she did. Trying to convince her to sit there and go potty all day long was awful. Some friends convinced me to keep working at it and so I did.
DAY THREE
Things started looking up. We were able to wear pants only this day. Nora started to try and use the potty on her own and have success with it. I could see her anxiety about using the potty start to fade away as the day went on and I finally felt like I could breathe again. It was still not smooth sailing and we were home all day for the third day in a row so I started to get a little nervous about leaving the house for the first time and going back to school and how that all would go.
After much more success on day three I was happy we continued with trying. Nora was happier and I was happier and it seemed like she finally got the process down. We may have had an accident that day but I don't remember it being nearly as awful as the first two days.
What you do when you're stuck at home for three days...
Pajama party!
Sunglasses!
Play with the delivery boxes!
DAY FOUR
We had plans for lunch this day and I was crossing my fingers that we could make an attempt out of the house for it. Nora woke up and used the potty so we put underwear on for the first time since the first day when we had lots of accidents. Nora had another successful potty experience while wearing underwear and I was SO excited for her!
When it came time to go to lunch, I asked her if we should put on a pull-up while out and she told me no; she wanted to wear her underwear. Nervously, we left the house and headed to Chick-Fil-A for lunch. I immediately showed her where the restroom was (she had not yet used a big potty - just her training potty) and must have asked her a-zillion times if she needed to go while we were eating. She kept saying no and then wanted to play.
Finally, she said she needed to go potty. YAY! I ran her into the bathroom but she did not go on that big, giant toilet. About five minutes later she said she needed to go again and this time... SUCCESS!! I made another huge deal out of using the potty & gave her special snacks from the backpack for doing so.
Nora did not want to wear a pull-up anymore. Ever. We had to convince her to wear one at nap & bedtimes but let her put her underwear on over it. I decided to let her go to school the next day and see if she could apply her potty training to another context. I let her know if she went potty all day long in the bathroom, we would go get ice cream after school. When I picked her up, it was good news! We went to Yogurtland and enjoyed yummy ice cream. Unfortunately, she would not use their potty (it was big & loud) & ended up having her first and only accident since potty training in the car on the way home.
Happy girl with her ice cream.
After four days straight of doing nothing but potty training, I finally felt like we'd turned a page. Nora has continued to use the potty as she should and since has had only that one #1 accident in her big girl undies. We are still struggling with #2 a little bit but she is trying to use the potty correctly I think the sensation is just different. On the flip side, she lately has been diaper-free 24 hours a day. Since she was waking up dry at both nap and bed times and immediately requesting to use the potty, we decided to try naps first without a pull-up and then bed time. She was waking up & coming to the door when she needed to go potty even with pull-ups on so we figured we might as well give it a try. We are going to officially cancel our Amazon Prime pull-up subscription!
I'm sure we will have more accidents in our future but I have been happy that Nora has taken to using the big girl potty so well. And the experience has given us even more insight to her personality - she is cautious and can be timid but she is determined. Now we wait for Janie to be ready...!!!
No comments:
Post a Comment