Why Do We Have to Potty Train Kids???

A couple of weeks ago, I took Emma to gymnastics. While I was there, I overheard a mom ask her daughter if she needed to go potty. I ran over to her and said "Kelly, please tell me that Piper is not potty trained?". Yes, she was, and they did it over Memorial Day weekend. We talked a little more about Emma and Piper, and she reassured me that Emma was probably ready.

Emma would tell me after she went potty or pooped.

Emma would say "new diaper" when she was wet.

She communicates really well.

She follows instructions that are given to her.

She would have a dry diaper for long periods of time.

So, after feeling completely jealous that someone 2 months younger than Emma was potty trained, I decided that we would get Emma potty trained as well. That same weekend, we headed to Walmart to go Big Girl panty shopping. We got her tons of panties and different stuff for the big event. After looking at the calender, I realized that June 25th would be the date. The weekend of the 11th, we had Chaz's company party, and then the weekend of the 18th was Father's Day and we were planning on going out of town. So, the 11th, I take Emma to gymnastics and I was so proud to tell Piper's mom, Kelly, that we were going to shoot for the 25th and that if we didn't go to gymnastics we were at home on the potty.

Well, Chaz wasn't able to get off on the 18th to head to the lake like planned so I decided to move up our date to the 18th. So exciting. Emma is so smart, and she will get this and then it will be done.

June 18th...
Saturday morning, Emma woke up at 8:30. So immediately, we put on a pair of panties and headed for the toilet. At this point, I didn't have a floor potty for her, we had a built in child's toilet seat for her. She sat on the toilet until 9:45 and she just wouldn't go. I was okay, but a little irritated. I had given her plenty of water, snacks, and juice. I get her off the toilet, and within 5 minutes, she pees in her panties. I was still good. I told her that she needed to keep her panties dry and to pee in the potty, blah blah blah. So after about another 15 minutes, we headed back to the potty. This time, she sat for about 30 minutes and wouldn't go. After she got off, within 5 minutes she had again peed in her panties. At this point, I was starting to get really frustrated. Again she goes potty in her panties and I am done. I throw my hands in the air, and I say "fine, lets go get a diaper on". Immediately, I call my mom and start crying about how hard this is and she just doesn't get it and I can't do it and I quit. She told me that I had already spent 2 hours with her, and if I quit now I will have to redo those 2 hours all over again another day. After getting off the phone I felt a little better. Emma and I ran to Walmart to get a child's potty for the floor and a few more m&ms and headed back home. We parked the potty on the family room floor and I kept feeding her m&ms to keep her on the toilet. By noon, she had been sitting on the potty for about an hour, and then finally she just went. I cried because I was so happy that she went. I screamed and yelled about what a good job she did and that she was such a big girl. We had lots of hugs and kisses and hoorays!

After the first potty, I had higher hopes, but I knew that we were still far from perfection. About 15 minutes after going potty, I sat her back down on the potty to have lunch. She sat and sat and sat, and she finally went again. That afternoon, after nap, she had 1 more accident. Day 1 down, a lot more to go. I was extremely relieved that the day was over. I have never sat on the floor so much in my life. Hopefully, day 2 (Father's Day) will go better.

June 19th...
On Sunday morning, Emma woke up at 6:45, why? So, we put her panties on and headed out of her room for the potty. At this point, I am sure that she was thinking, "seriously we have to do this again". She wanted nothing to do with the potty, and candy at 7:00 in the morning was not what she wanted to eat. She finally went, hooray good start for day 2. I kept putting her on every 20 minutes or so and if she didn't go within a few minutes I would try again a few minutes later. She was doing really good, but every half hour she would trickle just enough to need new panties. Is this how it is going to be? Why are you in panties if you really truly can't hold your bladder? I started to get frustrated again, but not to the point of quitting. Later that morning, my mom came over again to bring Emma a few presents and encouraging words. She went through 3 panties before her nap time, but only one was a true accident, the others were just trickles. Emma went down for a nap, and even though I wanted a nap myself, I needed to get ready for Father's Day dinner. My dad was coming over, so I needed to run to the grocery store to pick up a few things and start getting dinner ready so that I wasn't overwhelmed when they got to the house. After Emma's nap, and throughout the rest of the evening, she had ZERO accidents. That is right people, ZERO. She was also going 1 1/2 hour stretches in between going to the bathroom, no trickling, my hopes were soaring. Hopefully the 20th will be good too while she is at daycare.

June 20th...
On a normal Monday morning, Emma is usually so tired that she sleeps in until I get her up 10minutes before we have to go. This Monday had to be a little different. I woke her up about 30 minutes before we needed to leave so that I could put her on the potty. Within 5 minutes she went potty. I'm so excited that this is working out so well!! We head to daycare, and she freaks out because she got 1/4 of the amount of juice than she normally gets, but we make it to daycare with no accidents. Once we get up to the house, I let Leah (her daycare provider) know what is going on and what I do that kind of works and so on. After I leave, I pray that she will have a good day and that she will continue to improve. At about 11, I text Leah to see how she is doing. She had one accident, and she still hadn't gone in the potty. Why are we backtracking, we have already established going in the potty? After another 2 hours, Emma still wouldn't go in the potty. At this point she was down for a nap so there was no point in worrying. I got the idea to have my friend record me giving Emma a motivating speech with lots of encouraging words. I e-mailed it to Leah, and when Emma woke up from her nap she played the video for her. She said that Emma was so excited to see me on the computer and she went pee in the potty right away. That night, when we got home, she went potty twice, and then we went out to dinner with my Mom and family. She didn't have any accidents in the restaurant (YEA)!

June 21st-today...
Each day we are getting progressively better. On Tuesday, Emma did well at daycare, and yesterday she did even better. As of 12:00 today, she hadn't had any accidents. I just keep encouraging her to use the potty and I tell her that it is time to go. Every once in a while, she will tell me that she has to go, but I am usually the one to say "it's time". I am very proud of myself for sticking to it, and I am very thankful that my mom talked me into not quitting. This has probably been one of the most stressful and most demanding things that I have had to do as a parent. In the past 5 days, I haven't been able to say "oh well, we'll try next time", I have to be extremely consistent so that she will continue to get better at keeping her panties dry all the time.

I know that we are going to have to continue to watch her closely to make sure that she isn't having accidents, but everyday that we get through is one day that I am closer to having a completely potty trained kid. I will continue to update her progress, and more pictures of her cute little tush in panties.