The Potty Chronicles: Day 3
Morale is low.
Food is scarce.
I'm beginning to think it's okay if I have a high school daughter that stills wear diapers.
That stupid little potty sits in our bathroom haunting me... rubbing it in my face that it has yet to see more than one bladder movement.
I'm exhausted. Allie doesn't seem to care about where she pees. I'm thinking this whole thing was a very bad, terrible, awful, horrible idea.
NO ONE TELLS YOU. All those blog posts "How I potty trained my 15 month old in 3 days!" just give you tips but no one warns you that this will drain you emotionally and physically.
No one tells you how discouraged you'll be after a few hours. How exhausting it is to follow a toddler around with a tiny toilet and a roll of toilet paper. How frustrating it will be when you're telling them for the 28th time that pee goes in the toilet, not on the floor. How you won't have time to shower, cook, or do anything because as soon as you turn your back, that's the moment they decide to pee. How it's not about knowing if your toddler is ready for potty training it is about knowing whether you are ready for potty training.
So here I am.
I'm telling you.
I gave up. I sort of did 2 days and by day 3, I was ready to chuck that tiny toilet in the garbage and never look back.
But here's the thing... she will be potty trained someday. Whether she's 2 or 5 (dear God, please no). But it's going to happen. And I have a plan for Attempt #2.
Don't let my experience discourage you. If anything, I'm hoping it helps prepare other moms for their own experience when the time comes. I know Allie can do it, it just takes consistency and discipline on my part.
Anyway, on a completely unrelated note, WE GO TO LA IN 1 WEEK!!! Ooh. Maybe I should start packing. Huh.
Food is scarce.
I'm beginning to think it's okay if I have a high school daughter that stills wear diapers.
That stupid little potty sits in our bathroom haunting me... rubbing it in my face that it has yet to see more than one bladder movement.
I'm exhausted. Allie doesn't seem to care about where she pees. I'm thinking this whole thing was a very bad, terrible, awful, horrible idea.
NO ONE TELLS YOU. All those blog posts "How I potty trained my 15 month old in 3 days!" just give you tips but no one warns you that this will drain you emotionally and physically.
No one tells you how discouraged you'll be after a few hours. How exhausting it is to follow a toddler around with a tiny toilet and a roll of toilet paper. How frustrating it will be when you're telling them for the 28th time that pee goes in the toilet, not on the floor. How you won't have time to shower, cook, or do anything because as soon as you turn your back, that's the moment they decide to pee. How it's not about knowing if your toddler is ready for potty training it is about knowing whether you are ready for potty training.
So here I am.
I'm telling you.
I gave up. I sort of did 2 days and by day 3, I was ready to chuck that tiny toilet in the garbage and never look back.
But here's the thing... she will be potty trained someday. Whether she's 2 or 5 (dear God, please no). But it's going to happen. And I have a plan for Attempt #2.
- Underwear all the time. We tried underwear and we tried bare bottom. She seemed to not care about being bare bottomed so I'm just going to stock up and be ready to do a lot of laundry. She also held her pee on day 3 until I put her in a diaper for her nap so yes, that means I might have to be washing a lot of sheets and waterproof pads those first few days.
- Treats. Not for her. For me. For goodness' sake, I'm pregnant and trying to keep up with a toddler. I need to have something quick and easy to eat since I'll have to be watching her like a hawk those first few days.
- Making her clean up her accidents. I know, this sounds so Cinderella's step-mom of me, but hear me out. Those first few days, she was happy to point out her accidents to me. And because I always cleaned things up, it seemed like the only training that was happening was me being trained to follow her around with Clorox and paper towels. So I'm thinking a few good sessions of having her help me clean up her accidents, she'll get tired of it pretty quickly and be ready to go in the toilet.
- Tag team it. I'm planning to do day 1 on a day when Brian can be home from work and help me clean, encourage, and just be there as emotional support. I give up way too easily so if we both resolve to do this together, it might be easier.
- Accept the meltdowns. I'm sure she'll be unhappy and I'm giving myself free reign to sit there and cry with her. It's going to be hard and a lot of work but I know we can do this.
Don't let my experience discourage you. If anything, I'm hoping it helps prepare other moms for their own experience when the time comes. I know Allie can do it, it just takes consistency and discipline on my part.
Anyway, on a completely unrelated note, WE GO TO LA IN 1 WEEK!!! Ooh. Maybe I should start packing. Huh.
