To Potty Train...Or NOT To Potty Train?

 That is the question.

When Bailey went through her last pack of diapers last week, Scott and I decided to buy her pull-ups and underwear in the hopes of maybe getting her more comfortable using the potty.  She was super excited the morning we went to Target, and I let her pick out her own pull-ups and whatever kind of underwear she wanted (Minnie Mouse, thank you very much).  I thought, Alright...we're doing this!

 I had researched a few different potty training methods, and had heard that the 3-Day Method was a very successful one to try.  After reading more about it, it seemed a little too intensive for us right now (it involved immediately putting on underwear and only underwear on the child, accidents be damned, and required us to basically be shut-ins for 3 days so that we can discover and anticipate Bailey's potty cues...by the end of the third day it was expected that she would be trained).  I love the 3-Day Method in theory, but I honestly don't think we have the time to devote to it properly right now--there's just too much going on.  So...pull-ups it is!

It started off great!  I talked to Bailey about how we go pee-pee and poopy on the potty, not in our big girl pull-up, and she nodded solemnly at me.  She stayed dry for a good chunk of the day, but wasn't a fan of actually sitting on the potty.  She has no problem sitting for 1.4 seconds, but anything beyond that is just not her thing.  She was really excited to be wearing a pull-up, though, and I felt like maybe we were making some sort of progress.

Fast forward to the next day.  Since I had a very light daycare day, I let Bailey take a nap in my bed while watching Mickey on tv.  I went to check on her and found her fast asleep in bed...with her soaking wet pull-up tossed at the foot of my bed and her shorts on the floor.  I woke her up to put a new pull-up on and she said with a giant smile on her face, "Mommy!  I go potty...in my pull-up!  See?!"

The morning after that, she pooped in her pull-up, snuck downstairs and took the dirty pull-up off and left it in the corner of the room.  I found her naked from the waist down, sitting on the couch.  She jumped up excitedly and said, "Mommy!  I pooped in pull-up!  Look...there!"

Again, I explained that we can't just take our pull-up off and that we need to try and go IN the potty.  We put a fresh pull-up on and got ready for a busy day of birthday parties, Christenings, and graduation parties.  Secretly, I was sort of proud of her.  She wasn't using the potty, but she WAS recognizing when she went to the bathroom in her pull-up and she obviously didn't like the feeling if she kept taking the pull-up off.  Baby steps.

By day 3, Bailey was asking specifically for a diaper and didn't want to wear the pull-ups at all.  We didn't have any diapers in the house, so I explained to her that we needed to keep on wearing the pull-ups like a big girl.  She seemed okay with it, but kept asking for a diaper throughout the day.  Still not a fan of sitting on the potty for any length of time...so it's almost like we're making zero progress with the pull-ups.

Bailey has always been a headstrong little girl.  From day one, she's always done things in her own time and not a second before she's good and ready.  So, Scott and I have decided that for now we're not going to push it.  We'll go back to diapers after we finish this pack of pull-ups because that's what she's most comfortable with right now.  And in the fall we'll give the 3-Day Method a shot...there's just way too much going on throughout the summer and I want to be able to really devote the time and energy needed to do it right.  We've got time...Bailey will be 2 years old tomorrow, so it's not like we HAVE to rush her into it.  She's very smart, and I know that when she's ready she'll potty train like a champ.  Until then, we'll just keep encouraging her without forcing it.

On a completely unrelated note, I'm 14 weeks today...hello, second trimester!  On Sunday, Bailey pointed to Scott's stomach and asked him if he had a baby in his belly.  Looks like we've got some explaining to do...
;-)