**WARNING** this is yet another potty training post... sorry. I'm sure you're all tired of it, but HEY this is my blog afterall and this is big deal to me!
I knew my celebratory post last night was premature, and too good to be true. Yes, Sophie "knows" how to use the potty, she proved that yesterday, but now the head games have begun. She is doing what I feared and using it as leverage. Today was pretty bad. I am trying so hard to be patient and not show my frustration but it's not easy and I am not succeeding.
Here's what she's doing, your advice is MOST welcome:
- She goes to the bathroom first thing in the morning just after 6AM (Today in her underwear, probably my fault though, I should have gone in at 6 as I had planned, but was too lazy.)
- Then she'll HOLD IT all morning until nap time (today we went to the library and the store with no problem)
- Nap time is an all out BATTLE of wills, I know she needs to go, it's been 8 hours! She won't. I lay her down (no other choice) and come back 5 min later when she's gone in her underwear. She enjoys the chance to wear a new pair of underwear with a new character on it. And the time it takes to clean up so she's not napping yet. (Today she had FOUR accidents in her room when she was supposed to be napping within 30 min, F-O-U-R!!!! I was all but snarling.)
- Then she'll hold it the rest of the day until bed time.
- Bed time is very similar to nap time except that I take all of her cries to sit on the toilet more seriously since I've been humbled with the nap time escapades. All of her cries from the bedroom are fabricated excuses to get out of bed. I think I took her back to the potty 15 times tonight. ARRRGGGHHH!!! She really knows how to push my buttons.
I thought kids her age were supposed to still want to please their parents! She is making me so crazy. I am at a loss as to what to do. I know she KNOWS what she is supposed to do, she's just being a stinker and a rebel. What do I do???? I'm just trying to be consistent and patient, what else is there?
12 comments:
Potty Training is a ride full of suprises, you think you have a fully potty trained kid even months down the road and something in them just changes and they revert back to peeing everywhere! My only adivce is to keep going NEVER GO BACK to diapers its the worst thing you can do. And I hate to break it to you but when you reach potty training you reach the age where kids are finding out about controling their OWN lives and who cares what mommy thinks ;) She is going to push boundries for anything she can and right now the one that gets the biggest reaction will be potty training. I know you resisited it, but I potty trained with bribes (MnM's for going potty and a sticker chart for going #2 so many days in a row w/o and accident to get a small prize) and it worked out well, and my mom potty trained 5 kids without to much of a big deal that way too.... Heres my wish of good luck and remember to perserveir(sp?)!
Oh and I forgot to add, with the wanting to put clean panties on, you need to get a boring (and maybe even ugly) pack of panties and say if you have an accident these are the panties you get to wear, the princesses don't like to get peed on (I told Aspen that all the time!)
I know I am no expert...but I love watching SuperNanny and she seems to know a thing or two. Try her advice: http://www.supernanny.com/Advice/-/Your-toddler/-/Development-and-learning/15-top-tips-for-potty-training-.aspx
I am so sorry. I don't have any advise, but if it makes you feel better Paul is 3 and still poos in his underwear almost everyday.
-Susan
Potty Training is the pits. Calder does the same thing..even now. There will be times when he wakes up from naps and in the morning wet. I try to not give him water at night and take him to the potty before bed, but it sometimes doesn't seem to matter. You might try to save the fun character underwear until she can not wet in them, it might just work as an extra reward if she enjoys wearing them. Thats what we did, we just got the good old whitey titeys and then at the end got him some cars underwear and told him he can only wear them if they kept him dry. Isn't it funny how they are so little and still have so much control?? You are doing great!! Just try to be patient (its hard, I KNOW!!) and she will come around! Keep us posted!
Sice we have just battled the potty fight, I know exactly what you are going through!!! I had the great advice to expect a regression after they suceed for a couple of days, and to not make it a big deal. Maybe since she likes to wear new unders you could let her change them periodically throughout the day so they stay dry and she's happy. I'm not sure about the night because I have Sam were a pull up. Most mornings he's dry, but then I don't have to wash sheets if there was an accident. Hope any of this helps! Oh yeah, he loved the potty treats too...he got 1 for peeing and two for #2. I let him pick out at the store what treats he wanted.
Ah! Oh! I was hoping you were avoiding the power struggle thing. All I can say is that the best thing to do is to act like you don't care. Tell her that you'll have to put her in a diaper for nap time until she can stay dry in bed. Have her tell you when she's ready to go potty before naps instead of wear a diaper. That's the gating principle in the parenting book I made you. Its the only way I know of to avoid power struggles with strong willed children. In other words her behavior opens a gate to a good consequence. She decides when she wants that gate to open. You are just her cheerleader.
Just keep being consistent, shes totaly testing the waters. You know shes making sure your really serious. Maybe get some plain white colored underwear. Put the princess kind on her in the morning but tell her if she has an accident in them she won't get anymore princess underwear. Just a thought. Try and get her in the habit of sitting on the potty before bed/nap time. And always remind/encourage that she gets a treat when she goes in the potty. :) Good luck!
This is what we did with Noah, but you have to find what works for YOU and SOPHIE not everyone else. There are thousands of books that claim they have mastered potty training, but it's whatever works for you two. With Noah we did the timer thing for a week. I set the timer for an hour and when it went off I would sing or do a silly dance about the "potty timer" going off and then we would head for the potty. Even if he didn't need to go we would just sit there for a minute or two. Everyday we added 30 minutes or an hour. Whenever he heard the timer he knew where we were going. If he didn't go I didn't make it a big deal, but when he did go I made sure to praise him and make it a big deal. I know this doesn't teach them to learn when their bodies need to go to the bathroom, but only about a week after we started this he would start telling me when he need to go. Noah was a "holder" as well so this way he had numerous opportunities to go if he needed to. (We didn't leave the house much that week) I think Noah's favorite thing was the dye. I let Noah choose what color he wanted to turn the potty water and then we put food coloring in the water. He loved watching it change colors when he urinated on it. I also made a tent out of the potty so he would want to stay longer. I put books by the potty so we could read while sitting there as well. As you can see we just tried to make the potty a fun place to relax and do business. Noah has to be relaxed to get any business done, so I had to make the potty a place where he could relax and not feel pressure to perform. Those are just a few of our tricks. Good luck trying to find what works.
Oh, Jessica, I'm so sorry. Did the book elaborate what to do on day 4 ...since it was a 3 day potty training method? It sounds like you have some good advice above...I'm interested in the book your mom gave you! I'm sure she is full of great parenting advice, tried and true.
On the otherhand, your family photos turned out adorable!!! Thank goodness for photoshop, huh? And I agree, it is a stressful process to get them done! But all the work paid off :) On the shelves....I think I might consider painting them either black or chocolate brown to help them pop off the wall a little better. Either way, I think they look great!
All I can say is good luck and stick with it. Austin does something similar in that when he goes potty he doesn't aim (if standing) or doesn't push his pee pee all the way in the toilet so that he splashes or all out pees on his underwear so that he can change them to another pair. We usually go through 4 pair everyday and he's been potty trained for months now. It will happen, she'll give in one day.
Sorry about the relapse, Danielle won't go potty if I force her- but at night time I can convince her to try- especially if it has been a few hours. I've done a few different things, but one that works lately is telling her how many stories she can read if she sits down. It's something she really wants- so she'll go by herself without me forcing her.
Good luck!!
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