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Friday, October 14, 2011

Potty Power or Well of Course She Did

So my parents have taken to picking Wee 'Burb up on Thursdays and hanging with her. She gets pancakes and Elmo and all of the other awesome grandparent things that go along with that.

Really, this couldn't work out better for Scott and I. It's quiet time, sometimes a date night, sometimes just catching up on Tivo and eating dinner together. It's magical.

So we go to pick Wee 'Burb up after a rather awesome dinner at a malt shop nearby. We were high on peanut butter and chocolate malts and Wee 'Burb was high on grilled cheese and Elmo movies.

My parents hand me the daycare daily sheet and point out where it says she sat on the potty. I tried to ask her if she sat on the potty at school and she giggled, pointed to their dog and yelled "CASS!"

The dog's name is Cash.

The kid is Fort Knox about what she's into at daycare, I tells ya.

I almost forgot about it but in the car I said to Scott "you don't think she like..is potty-training at daycare, do you?"

We both snorted. We had a traumatic experience a few months ago when we ordered her an Elmo potty chair only to discover it has like 100 sayings in 4 or 5 languages. Traumatized, I forced Scott to disable the voice and we kind of didn't talk much about potty-training after that.

I mean, really, what's the kid going to do in the real world when Elmo doesn't cheer her on for dropping a deuce? Right? Isn't it just setting her up for disappointment??

Anyway, since then she's sat on it, oh, like 4 times. She's very fascinated with flushing the big toilet and every time she farts she declares "I poo-poo."

That's the extent of training.

Confession time: I kind of like diapers. I know, apparently this makes me a freak. But honestly, they're super convenient. Expensive, yes. But so damn convenient. 3-hour trip to a cabin in Wisconsin? It's cool, she has a diaper. Grocery cart full with only 10 minutes before we have to be somewhere? It's cool, she has a diaper.

You see where I'm going. Also, in addition to my selfishness, I just kind of assumed potty training would come a bit late to Wee 'Burb given our walking dilemma.

So I go in to the daycare the next morning and a teacher confirms that it was probably a mix-up, that there is a girl with a slightly similar name to Wee 'Burb and the new teacher probably mixed up the charts.

Confession time: I had kind of hoped she had just, you know, taught herself to go potty.

Later that day, I pick her up and the teacher writes on the sheet that this is NOT a mistake. In fact, Wee 'Burb has been sitting, and sometimes actually going, on the potty at daycare.

Wazza...whah????

Apparently her seeing other kids do it was just too much and she has been asking every day since at daycare to sit on the potty. She only goes a few times, and she has ZERO interest in sitting for more than 12 seconds on the now-silent Elmo potty here at home.

I by no means think this means she is potty-trained, or even really that ready to make this happen for reals.

But somehow it just seems right that every time I think I know how to guide my daughter developmentally, she has a different idea.

So now, moms, I need your help. I want to say this: NO JUDGMENT! I don't want anyone saying anything negative about anyone else's comments or thoughts. I DO want to know how you potty-trained your kiddo. What worked as a reward system? What didn't work? How long did it really take?

10 comments:

Kristen said...

jeez, my little one was almost 3 before he was potty trained. He just had no interest in it and seriously, why push the issue? They will get potty trained when they're ready, and they're stubborn as hell so no point in pushing the matter. Plus really, they aren't gonna be 18 and still in diapers! ;) And I agree with you, sometimes I wish Riley was still in diapers! So much more convenient!

Ameena said...

One weekend, the day after Maya's second birthday, I decided it was time to potty train. My boss told me she had a foolproof method and so I listened and took notes and guess what? IT worked!

I spent the entire weekend with Maya, asking her every 15 minutes if she needed to go potty. And if she did she got an M & M. It was simply because it worked and it only took 48 hours but it was a difficult and messy 48 hours! But she only once had an accident after that so there is something to be said about the lure of M & Ms!

Good luck!

ChiMomWriter said...

We tried sticker charts (1 sticker for trying, 2 for going) - 10 stickers got her a little "prize"...something from the Target cheapo bin.

Didn't hold enough interest. We ended up with chocolate chips. 1 for trying, 2 for #1, 3 for #2. Then we changed the scale to 1 for #1 and 2 for #2.

I thought she'd be wired on chocolate forever, but when the baggie I had in the bathroom was empty, I just told her the chocolate chips were all done. Training has stuck.

We still do pullups at nap & bedtime. Also, although we haven't needed it yet, we do have a "piddle pad" in her car seat. Easier than taking the thing apart. We also have a small potty that lives in our trunk (also never used).

Rach (DonutsMama) said...

Your last sentence sums it up. She'll get there when she'll get there. Words I am telling myself as I worry about Donut crawling or lack of.

Kristin said...

My only advice is that every child is different - I tried to follow "expert" advice and in the end, I just followed my gut and ended up with a different path for each of my girls. I wouldn't worry for one minute about it. She'll train when she's ready. If she's showing some interest then you have nothing to worry about. We didn't do the small potty thing. I just got a potty seat to put on the big toilet and I personally feel like that was much easier. You need to be ready for it too though because it is a bit of time commitment when you are really ready to rock and roll. You'll love being without the diapers once she's trained.

Amanda @ It's Blogworthy said...

I got nuthing, except that I sort of agree about the diaper thing. I don't mind them, never have. He doesn't seem to mind having a dirty diaper, either, so it's not like he starts screaming as soon as he goes. He's had diaper rash and we were letting it air out a little bit and he peed like 5 times in the house. Diaper went back on quick as a bunny ;)

Kristen said...

Three kids - they all did it when they were ready to. no rhyme or reason. Gimmicks and rewards DID NOT WORK - we have a huge bin of little cars as proof from our first. I just figured out that I would praise them when they did it and keep them in pull ups until we were sure it was a done deal. So as hard and annoying as THAT sounds they were all around 2 1/2-3 1/2 before they were completely trained. But we wiped them all on certain occasions until they almost 5......

Kat said...

It's official: Wee 'Burb is a Joiner.

I know that we were incented with M&Ms and toys. Billy got a truck of some variety, and I couldn't tell you for the life of me what I got. I would just say, Embrace Bribery. If it works, it works.

EatDrinkBeRunning said...

Oh that is too funny! At this age, the peer pressure is a good thing I guess!

Anonymous said...

Having 3 boys that regularly use the potty, I have to say that I barely had anything to do with it. Bribes & incentives work to a degree, but I have learned that they will be fully potty-trained when they are ready. I think Son #3 was the easiest, because I finally relaxed enough to realize that he would tell me when he was ready, and not the other way around. When you decide to commit, be prepared for a very messy laundry week, and try not to be mad at Wee'Burb for accidents. We kept up with pull-ups at nap and bedtime for several months, to almost 2 years, depending on the boy & his ability to wake himself up and get to the toilet on time during the night.