Day 1
It was quite the bittersweet, anxious moment today when I
put away all our cloth diapers for “the new baby.” (I’m not announcing
anything. That was just our explanation to H.) They are all gone. All the wet
bags, the diapers, the wipes, the liners, the diaper pail, and the changing
pad. We have big girl panties.
In fact, at this moment, at the end of Day 1 of three-day
potty training boot camp, there are many pairs of panties spinning in the
dryer. We got a decent portion of pee at least mostly in the potty. This is
pretty much what I expected. We have been working on the other for a long, long
time, but pee is a new thing. It’s understandable that it might take some time
to click.
We’re following the three day, get rid of your diapers,
panties only method (kindly sent to me by a friend). I’ve heard several people
attest that it does work. I’m waiting another two days until I pass judgment.
The level of focus it requires is rather exhausting, but I just keep hoping
that it will pay off. I’m going to be really bummed if I have to break those
diapers back out.
Day 2
At the close of day 2 I am ready to throw in the towel. We caught
one more pee than yesterday, but that’s still only 7 out of 13. She still
hasn’t told us one time that she needs to go. I’ve just gotten a little better
at spotting the signs.
This is supposed to be a three day system! If we’re
two-thirds of the way through, shouldn’t she be picking it up by now? I called
the friend who sent me the method and while she was very reassuring, her little
one “clicked” basically on day 1. I am still determined, but so nervous. H is a
child who does things at her own pace. She cannot be rushed. This doesn’t mean
that she doesn’t show every single sign of readiness (except maybe night time
dryness). Why is potty training not a logic problem? IF child shows signs of
readiness, THEN child will train.
I am so frustrated that I totally understand why someone
would just want to throw in the towel at this point. For some reason as parents
we expect potty training to magically happen right when we want it to (probably
because it’s so messy). What else do you teach your child that takes only a few
days? It took her days to learn to fist bump. It took her 15 months to learn to
walk. It took her most of a year to build up a vocabulary. Why would she learn
to pee in the toilet in mere minutes? It’s crazy for me to expect her to get it
so quickly. But I hate cleaning up pee ever so much.
This is how I know it’s time to cut everyone some slack.
Day 3
Things have vastly improved today. By no stretch would I
claim that my child is now potty trained. My good friend, Ashley, a partner in
potty training boot camp, sent me a great link today to the Mommypotamus blog.
She talks about her adventures in the three-day method. Turns out it took close
to two months for her daughter to be fully daytime trained. And as of the
posting, was still not 100% at night. I have to say, reading this made me feel
so much better. Especially when I read the comments and saw other moms writing
in and saying that it took them more than three days as well.
This isn’t a race. If it was a race, it would be a marathon,
not a sprint. And learning to pee on the pot when you’re awake and learning to
let your bladder wake you are two very different skills. It’s a nice thought
that you can do it all at once, but I’m not sure it’s going to work for us.
H still hasn’t really said she needed to potty. Once today
she did run into the potty to go (without announcing her intentions), and we
had some success with her acknowledging that she was going pee in the potty
while she was up there. She was happy to pee in the pot, and she let me take
her in when my spidey-sense started going off. It was a 9 out of 12 day, a big
improvement for sure.
Naptime, however, was an utter disaster. My amazing husband
took naptime and let me get some sleep undisturbed. He had to change the sheets
twice, and H never actually got any sleep. Who can sleep in wet sheets? Her
endless companion, Puppy, got not one but two baths today.
I am willing to give it the rest of the week for naptime and
bedtime to see if we can get some improvement. She has woken from naptime dry
on more than one occasion in the past, so I know it’s possible. H rarely goes
straight to sleep at naptime, however, which gives her ample opportunity to pee
before falling asleep. Same at bedtime. It’s a mystery, wrapped in pee soaked
sheets.
Worst case scenario we break out diapers for naptime and
bedtime. Not the perfect ideal I envisioned, but then, what part of raising a
child turns out exactly as you thought? As always, I favor the solution that
keeps everyone happy and well rested. Nobody (or almost nobody) goes to college
still wetting the bed, so H will certainly figure it out. It’s more my issue of
relaxing and letting her do it then it is her ability to learn.
Day 4
I have been reminded once again that I am not the brains of
this operation. Those honors go to H. Today we had an even better day. She woke
up dry from her nap and had very few accidents.
At 2:40am we were woken up with crying. H woke up because she
had started to pee in her bed. At least this time she woke up. Before this she’d
sleep right through it. Daddy rushed her to the potty, and she was able to
finish in there. A change of sheets and she was dry when she woke up. Of
course, we had checked her at 11:30pm and taken her in to try to pee. She was
so out of it that she just wanted to get back in bed.
While we were thrilled that she was dry this morning, the
idea of waking up in the middle of the night again is not so appealing. At
naptime I tried to put a diaper on her and she said, “No.” She wanted to keep
her panties on. Of course, she followed that up with a big girl performance of staying
dry, so I couldn’t be more pleased.
Tonight at bedtime I asked her if she wanted to wear panties
or a diaper. She said, “Panties!” You can’t argue with that. So much for me
agonizing over whether we’d try nighttime diapers. H made the decision for us.
In truth, we’ll have to see how she does over the next few nights. If we don’t
get some improvement, we might have to go to diapers despite her protests. I
don’t relish changing sheets every night at 3am.
While the past few days have had their difficult moments, I
am glad that we decided to go this route. H may not be telling us she needs to
go, but it’s becoming more and more obvious to us when she does need to go, and
she’s getting used to the rhythm and routine of going to the potty (most of the
time). It will probably be weeks or even a few months before I feel confident
saying that she is potty trained, but I feel we’ve given her a good foundation.
No comments:
Post a Comment
Please be kind.