the potty routine
You'd think, with the amount of blog posts I have written relating to potty training (this will be number 18) and the amount of time in my life I've spent on it (looks like I've been writing about potty training on fairly constistent basis for the last four years of my life) that I would know something about potty training by now.
But I don't.
OK, scratch that. I know one thing. I know this with certainty:
It is exhausting.
We're in full-swing, starting today. I'm telling myself, this is it. Just do it! Focus in on this, and only this, for the next week, and then you can be DONE. FOREVER. DONE. NO MORE DIAPERS.
Forgive me for falling into all-caps mode. It's just that unless you've been the primary caregiver for a lot of small children, you have no idea how thrilling the idea of a diaper-free household is.
And Evie is way further ahead than the other two were, at this point in the game. She's only 2! She willingly goes poo! She doesn't act as though the toilet is a death trap!
But still, even with those positives, potty training still wears me out. I'm running to the potty with her every 20 minutes. Because seriously, she GOES every 20 minutes. I think that kids who wear diapers just get used to relieving themselves whenever a tiny bit of urine builds up in their bladders, and they just kind of go all day long, and we parents only change them when the diaper happens to get particularly full and noticeable. And then we take the diapers away, and kids and parents alike are befuddled at what happens when that safety net is gone.
So we're going through an all-day-long potty ritual that goes something like this:
1. Give kid juice. Note time of juice and try to figure out when kid is likely to need to pee.
2. Start doing some small task such as unloading the dishwasher or changing the laundry from washer to dryer.
3. Look at clock and realize "Shoot! It's potty time!"
4A. Discover child with puddle around her feet. Change undies, wipe up floor, return to step 1. and repeat.
4B. Discover child with dry pants. Whisk child to potty.
5. Sit next to child in the bathroom, reading books, singing songs, and generally trying to convince child that going in the toilet is a fun! happy! magical! thing that she should repeat as often as possible.
6A. Child goes in potty. Rejoice! Hugs! Kisses! Marshmallows for everyone! Return to step 1. and repeat.
6B. Child sits on potty but doesn't go. You eventually allow child to get off potty.
7. Three minutes later, you discover child with puddle around her feet. Return to step 1. and repeat.
8. Go through this cycle every 20 minutes all day long.
Like I said: exhausting.
We've gone through a lot of little pairs of underwear today. I lost count of how many puddles I've wiped up off the floor.
But. We have also gone in the potty and eaten celebratory marshmallows four or five times today. That's something, right?
And now she's napping, with a diaper on, thank goodness, and I get to take a break from the potty ritual.
9 comments:
I feel like you just did this.
I know. I feel the same way, because I did just do this. Lucy has only been potty trained a year. My other girls were not potty trained until 3, and Evie is only 2. But she's exhibiting so much more interest in it than the other ones did at this age, that I'm giving it a go, in hopes that it will actually stick with her and we'll be done with diapers!
My plan is to really focus in on it for about a week, but if she hasn't gotten it down by then, to just forget about it again until she's older.
This is an excellent description of the process taking me back to nearly 20 years ago. It still gives a quick squeeze to my emotions just thinking about it!
You can do it! She's gonna get it soon I just know it! At least you don't have carpet!
Every time I potty train, I am so grateful we don't have carpet. And since I've been potty-training almost constantly since we moved in here three years ago...I am constantly grateful that we don't have carpet.
I'm seeing a whole "flow" chart here ... HA HA HA HA HA!
I'm potty training right now too. Garrett's doing really well, but he's so much older too. good luck :-) Gavin is doing cloth diapers right now and its an experience, but way cheaper and not too bad. :)
18 posts, huh? That's really funny. I despise potty training myself. So thankful to be over it... but it doesn't mean there aren't accidents now and then. Though usually from the bigger kids. That's way frustrating!
@ Betsy: Cloth diapers? Wow, I am so impressed. You should blog about that! I would really like to hear about why you decided that and what the experience has been like for you.
Post a Comment