In the Trenches...Day 3

Potty training just might be the death of me.

Not really...but maybe.  It's been rough over here, folks.  We started hardcore on Saturday afternoon.  Put Bailey's very last diaper on her that morning (we were heading to an Easter egg hunt) and then really talked it up about how cool it was going to be to use the potty and what a big girl she'd be and how she could pick out her very own potty and whatever underwear she wanted (she calls them panties...I feel like a pedophile whenever I do, so I'm working on getting her to call them underwear or underpants).

She was all gung-ho Day One.  We went to Target that afternoon and let her pick out a potty (a pink princess one that plays music when you "go" in it), underwear (Mickey Mouse...boys'), and a special potty treat that she can have ONLY when she uses the potty (Hershey Kisses).  We got home and put her in underwear around 3pm, fully expecting to have a million and one accidents before bed that night.  Bailey had a blast sitting on her potty and sat for a good 15 minutes with a cup of juice and a salty snack.  I was in the next room taking tags off clothes to be washed and in comes Bailey.

"Mommy, I go potty!"

And I'm thinking, the hell you did, little lady.  But I follow her into the living room anyway, expecting to humor her a bit and then explain to her the difference between just sitting on the potty and actually using it.  I look down into the seat and, lo and behold, she'd peed!  Without any help at all, Bailey had pulled her underwear down, used the potty, then pulled them back up.  We were so excited that we had her call pretty much everyone in the family to let them know she peed on the potty.

Friends of ours invited us to the mall Play Place that night and we decided to go.  My mom had bought Bailey a portable Dora the Explorer potty seat about a year ago (talk about wishful thinking!), so I packed that and a bunch of extra clothes and underwear, just in case.  We kept her in underwear, but put a pull-up on over them.  This way she could feel if she had an accident, but there wouldn't be a puddle all over the Play Place.  We were there for a little under three hours...she tried going potty twice, and had NO accidents!  We came home and put her to bed, expecting wet clothes in the morning.  Morning came and went...she was dry...all night!

Scott and I bragged about how easy it was to potty train her and what a good job "we" were doing.  That's when karma decided to bring us down a notch.

She didn't use the potty once the entire day Sunday.  She had 5 accidents...all within minutes of sitting on the potty.  We made her help us clean up any mess she made, including taking off her wet clothes and putting on new dry ones (obviously, we helped her if she needed it, but didn't do it FOR her).  She couldn't have cared less.  Giving her candy when she used the potty didn't work.  Bribing her with a trip to the toy store didn't work.  Leaving her in wet underwear a little longer than necessary didn't work.  She laughed in my face when I told her that it made me sad that she kept peeing on the floor and not in the potty.

By bedtime, Scott and I were discouraged.

She woke up dry again this morning...after sleeping almost 12 straight hours.  So I guess that's a good thing.  But now she's refusing to even sit on the potty at all without a huge fight.  She hasn't had an accident yet but I'd bet they're coming.  Today is Day 3 (but our second full day) and I hear that it will probably get worse before it gets better.  Fantastic.

At this point, there's no going back.  We have no diapers left in the house, so she has no choice but to wear underwear from here on out.  It's a battle of wills, folks, and she's tough.  But I'm armed with coffee and tough love today.  Feel free to send some encouragement my way while I'm here in the trenches!