It has now been two weeks of potty training and I must say, I am exhausted. Spending several hours a day sitting on a hardwood floor reading books is not good for anyone, especially a pregnant woman who already has back problems. But, alas, I've pushed through.
When I left you last time, Abby had initiated the training process and was doing well. However, as soon as I hit "submit" on that post, she turned on me. The following morning Abby went from active, excited trainee to stubborn, screaming every time you mentioned the potty detainee. I was stumped and have to admit the morning started with screaming and tantrums and ended with both of us clutching each other, sobbing. I reassured Abby I loved her; she told me the same. Something else had to be done. It was a turning point, but we soon discovered the key to our potty training success: the egg timer.
Abby has always responded to times. Tell her there's 15 minutes before bed, and as long as you count down she goes up without a fight. (Most of the time.) So, when she refused to sit on the potty, I introduced the timer and told her she only had to sit for 5 minutes. When the timer went off, she could get up. It took a few times, but eventually she understood the time on the potty was short and stopped fighting me. There were a few times she immediately had an accident after getting up from her 5 minutes, but there was no screaming or fighting so I considered it progress.
Everyone advised me to switch to big girl underwear and it would be a snap. We tried; I cleaned the floor four times in a morning and switched back to pull ups.
Wednesday of this past week we tried again with the big girl underwear (after having pretty good success for a day or two) and this time it seemed to stick. We went three days with only one accident, and even then she was at the base of the toilet before she started to wet herself. Yay, progress!
I was nervous about this past weekend because we were traveling to Northern Virginia and Abby was going to stay with her MaMa while I went to a baseball game with Dan (and Jaime, Joe and Carol). I knew Mama would do a great job of trying, I just didn't know how Abby would respond. I was terrified my last 2 weeks would end up being for not. But, Abby did great. She stayed dry to and from (3 1/2h car trips!) and used the potty at MaMa and PaPa's . She had a few accidents while I was gone, but I blame that on all the fun she was having.
Which brings us to today. Two weeks later.
It was a long journey, but I think I can say I have an almost* potty trained little girl.
*Almost, because I still have to calm her down and talk her through pooping on the potty. And she's still in diapers at night. And she's terrified of public restrooms, so she just holds it until we get home.
Regardless, diapers to underwear in 2 weeks isn't too bad.
Does anyone know a good masseuse?
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