Adventures in Potty Training

I'll start this post with a disclaimer. There might be some serious TMI moments ahead, so if you don't feel the need to know the intricacies of my kid's bathroom habits, you may want to skip reading this post.

"Why write it at all?," you ask? Because this blog is about my life, and my life has revolved around potty training for a torturous ten days now (who's counting, though?).

We have been talking about/reading about/singing about going on the potty for what feels like years now. I was determined to let Libby decide when she was ready to do the whole official potty training this, but I wanted to make sure she was aware that I was ready whenever she was. And a few months back, she seemed to really be catching on! We went a whole two weeks or so where she was about 50/50 on successful potty trips. I was feeling hopeful that we were nearing the light at the end of the diaper tunnel. But then, just as soon as it started, it stopped. I was so bummed and reluctantly went back to buying diapers.

We kind of let the whole potty training thing fall by the wayside for a while, but as Libby neared her third birthday, it seemed like more and more people were bringing up the potty issue with her (Tom and myself included). Anyone who really knows my kid knows though that traditional psychological techniques usually backfire with her, so the more people talked about it, the more determined she seemed to not care. I too became determined to let things progress at Libby's pace.

And then, it snowed. A lot. And the temperatures were way below anything my "sometimes thinks it still lives in North Carolina" skin cared to deal with. And also we ran out of diapers. So, naturally, I did what any loving mother would do--I told Libby sorry, but we had no more diapers so she would have to wear underwear.

Every potty training "how-to" I read over the past year or so has stressed the importance of prepping your child for the transition and beginning in the morning, when you have at least three full days to dedicate to the cause. I sprung this "we have no more diapers" thing on Libby at about 5 p.m. on a Friday when we had plans to spend the day in Columbus with Mary the next day. Whoops.

But have no fear friends, because once again, my kid proved to me that books, Google searches and seasoned experts are no use when it comes to parenting her. She put on those Cinderella panties without hesitation and hasn't looked back since.

Now, don't get me wrong. We've had our struggles. The first three days were rough. They included one unfortunate pee accident at my doctor's office in the middle of a very full waiting room. (Have you ever tried to mop up a puddle of anything with Clorox wipes, by the way? Those things are about as absorbent as a Ziploc bag.) My washing machine got a serious workout in those three days. I lived in constant fear that my kid was going to pee on something at any given moment. I was on pins and needles and tried to make her go potty every thirty seconds. The more I tried, the more she resisted. It was pretty miserable. Finally, I wised up and just started trusting her. By day five, she was accident-free all day (nap time included)!

We're still working on nighttime training. We tried going cold turkey, but I found myself sleeping as if I had a newborn in the house. I woke every time I heard her stir and I was ready to jump out of bed at any minute to drag her to the potty in the middle of the night. My kid is like her mama though, in that if you mess with her sleep, there's usually hell to pay, so I quickly abandoned that approach and decided it was better for everyone if we used Pull Ups as a safety net at night for now.

Another thing we're working on is pooping on the potty. Homegirl will pee like a champ all day but will not for the life of me poop on the potty. My only hope is if I catch her in the act and rush her to the potty in time. This is usually not effective and generally ends with her yelling at me. I have a few tricks up my sleeve to combat this problem, but it's definitely a work in progress.

So when do we officially label our little girl a potty-trained "big girl"? I'm not sure, but we're close enough that I was able to walk by the diaper aisle in Meijer today without loading up my cart, and that in itself made these past ten days well worth it.