Days Three and Four

Right now I'm sure there are fives of you out there waiting to hear an update on the "Great Potty Training Weekend." After four pretty grueling days - no cardio or weight lifting, mind you, but grueling none-the-less - I'm still not quite sure we're anywhere close to potty trained.

As I sit here on the bathroom floor next to Ally while she plays in the tub I'm trying to think of what I've done since she was born that has been so rewarding and frustrating at the same time. Maybe it was breastfeeding. I had a pretty rough go of that one - mastitis after five days, an infant that really wouldn't latch, cracked, bleeding and sore you-know-whats for six months. But with nursing, there was really only the frustration of the act at the same time knowing that I was doing the right thing for her and my suffering wasn't all for naught. I don't know that I ever felt any sort of exhilaration when we got a good latch (or any other breastfeeding metaphor.)

In the case of potty training, however, the look on Ally's face when she successfully makes it to the potty is probably her best. Her latest statement is "Mommy, I win!" (Maybe that's because of the handful of Matchbox car "prizes" we've given her over the last few days for successful trips. Girl or not, she loves those things and they're cheap.) She totally gets that its a great thing to make it to the potty. In fact, aside from one accident out on the back forty at my parents house today because she was too busy playing with the dogs, we haven't had a #1 accident in over 24 hours. She even woke up from nap yesterday and today completely dry.

It's funny though. She really has moments when I see myself in her. A couple of times today I tried to congratulate her and she put her hand up and said "Shhh, Mommy, Shh" as in "seriously, it's not a big deal, I just sat down and peed." Cracks me up.

I can't relax though. Maybe this is the norm. For the last four days I have been entirely focused on making sure she's successful, doesn't have an accident and doesn't feel like she's in trouble when she does. I must have washed four loads of laundry this weekend just to make sure we had enough Tinkerbell and Minnie Mouse panties to make it through.

One good thing for the second part of yesterday and all of today was that we ditched the timer. It was really starting to piss her off. I think back to my college days and (forgive me Mom and Dad) playing Power Hour. (You know - that dumb drinking game where you take 60 shots of beer in 60 seconds - stupid, how many brain cells did I lose doing that?) Every 15-30 minutes that timer would go off and we'd either have a totally compliant little girl or a hellion that was saying "hell no are you taking my pants off." And I totally understand where she was coming from. The timer got really annoying. Today and yesterday Steve and I just kept a casual eye on the clock and watched her for signs. At this point, she knows when she has to pee and she knows how to hold it until she gets to the potty. We have 95% success here at least.

#2, however, is another story. The girl thinks toots mean #2. Pretty hilarious if you think about it. We have not had what my Dad is now calling "The Immaculate Poop." 0% success here. And I'm totally at a loss. For this reason I'm sending Ally to daycare in a PullUp tomorrow because I really don't want her to have a #2 accident there. I think maybe we need a little more time to put 2 & 2 (HA!) together.

I'm a little disappointed that we didn't accomplish it all during the long weekend. Don't get me wrong, I'm SO very proud of her and how far she's come. Prior to this weekend she wasn't really showing any signs at all of wanting to potty train and to come from that to having #1 down pretty well is awesome. There's just part of me that thinks I missed some step during the "Great Potty Training Weekend" that would have assured a complete success. I really feel like I failed her in some regard. I know - its just potty training and the kid will get it eventually, but ARG! - what do I have to do????

Probably relax a little about it. :-)

To all of you who have been there, I know you feel my pain. To those of you who have yet to travel down this path, I hope you have success (including a happy kid and happy parents at the end of it all.)

For now, I'm going to get my kid out of the bath, put her in her Nite-Nite Panties, read her as many stories and sing her as many songs as her little heart desires and kiss her goodnight - cause this is one proud Momma and she deserves it.

~Becky