Sunday, September 20, 2009

Adventures in Potty Training, Part 2

It's actually been over a month since we started this wacky potty training thing, and I can't believe how far we've come. It has not always been smooth (I have a new cheek wrinkle since August), but I am immensely proud of my daughter. And, heck, I'm even proud of myself.

Potty Training, Week 1
Things went ROUGH. In fact, I considered calling it quits many times, but I kept hearing my mom's voice in my head--BE CONSISTENT.

Well, the only thing consistent about that first week was my constantly being covered in pee. Or cleaning up pee. Or watching Em's bum like a hawk.

We survived because of great friends and their support. Luckily, Em and I have a friend (WMDS on this site) who recently went through this with her daughter. She was very understanding, even when Em unloaded a gallon of pee right in front of her. Nice.

PT, Week 2
We had a couple challenges this week. First, Em had a birthday party to go to without me. The same patient friend from week 1 was willing to help out and take Em for me because I had a wedding. I was seriously considering smacking a diaper on her, but then Em brought a tear to my eye and a hope to my heart with the words: "Mommy, I have to go potty." And she went potty. It was glorious.

And short lived. Later that night, she totally whizzed on the carpet in front of my sister and brother-in-law. They were fine, but I think they started to understand my pain a bit.

PT, Week 3
I was actually very excited for week 3 because Em was going back to day care. Cherie, our provider, is super helpful and gives fantastic advice. I was a little nervous because I didn't want to overwhelm Cherie and cause her unnecessary clean up. I mean, if it's your own kid, it's one thing, but someone else's...not so great.

Em used pull-ups at daycare and underwear at home. We still had a ton of messes at home, but slowly but surely she started to use the potty.

PT Week 4/5
Em went another week in pull-ups at daycare and then Cherie said the magic words: "Underwear is fine." So Monday morning I dressed her in underwear and we really haven't looked back.

That's not to say everything is honky dory. I had an unpleasant, messy morning. Number 2 is not going well. But we went away a couple weekends ago and Em had zero accidents. She even used a diner potty. And this Friday, we were at a restaurant and she grabbed my hand and asked to go to the potty. Amazing.

I knew this day would come. I just wasn't sure how. Now that I can almost say we are potty trained, I am not ashamed to admit that I am more than a bit proud of myself. But I am really amazed by my wonderful, ever-growing brave little girl.

1 comment:

Sarah said...

Good job sticking with it. She's getting to be a big girl!