20090427

Crash course in potty training

You would think that by the time I got to potty training child number five it would be a piece of cake. Unfortunately all the tactics I used on the four older kids have not worked with Abigail. Several times I said I was going to start her but she would just sit on the toilet FOREVER and not do anything. She was happy to sit there but of course that meant I had to sit there to catch the magical moment so we could all clap and praise her. There were many afternoons where I could be found sitting on the floor in the bathroom entertaining Abigail, nursing Emersynne, and trying to help Natalie with her homework. Boy was I glad nobody had a camera on those days! That would be an interesting picture to try to explain!

I kept trying to catch her when she was dry hoping that if she "accidently" went potty on the toilet she would begin to understand how it all worked out. No such luck. At the beginning of April I decided I would aggressively work with Abigail when I got back from my trip. So that is what I did. I figured that the best way for Abigail to learn and understand would be for her to feel it running down her legs. Gross I know but I didn't know what else to do. Ten days ago I pulled her out of diapers and put her in training pants. She was so excited to be wearing big girl underwear. We had two days of wiping up puddles and making sure she sat on a blanket when on the furniture but then she was making progress by leaps and bounds. She went from not having a clue, to telling us she needed to go potty. I was so amazed. I didn't think it was going to happen that quick. We still have accidents here and there and I have gotten used to taking along a change of clothes and underwear just in case. Thanks goodness for plastic pants. They really do help a lot! We stuck with the training pants and plastic pants because Abigail refused to wear pull-ups. She thought they were diapers and wanted nothing to do with them.

Today we were brave (or maybe just stupid) and didn't use plastic pants while we were out. It was an accident free day and hopefully there will be lots more of those in store for us!

Five down and one more to go!

3 comments:

Jenn said...

whoo hoo Abigail!!

Nadia said...

Tamara, thank you for sharing this story. Way to go, both of you!!!! I am on the verge of getting a potty for Sonia but that is about all I know about potty training. Thank you for giving heads up on the such a difficult task ;-) I really am wondering if Sonia will be well in elementary school before I finally pick up a potty from a store! And I have no idea what the next step is going to be for us after that ;-)

Laurie said...

CONGRATULATIONS! Such a time in a mother's life. I feel it is like labor. not the best trip to take but so worth it in the end.:) Lily was like that, no interest. Finally we forced the issue and it was over and done pretty quickly. Such a great feeling! Congrats again.