Potty Prowess

The words "too good to be true" come to mind when I think about Teagan potty training days after her brother was born. Things unraveled after GG went home, partially because I was forbidden to lift her for six weeks after my C-section and partially because I would rather change a diaper than clean up an accident at this stage of the game. So, she eventually made her way back into diapers. She would pee on the potty occasionally, but the time has come to get real about it. 

The training is as much for me as it is for her. I have to get used to asking her if she's dry and trying to go before we leave the house and, let's face it, my brain isn't functioning at 100% at the moment. But I'm getting better and so is she.

She's been getting a Skittle every time she pees on the potty, but I decided I needed to implement a more visual system to help motivate her. I have amassed an embarrassing collection of dollar store and clearance trinkets with the intent of using them to help her potty train, so I put them all in one place and showed them to her - something I hadn't done to this point, worrying that she'd freak out and "need" them and I'd be fighting her off multiple times a day. So I'd promised her "surprises" but it must not have meant anything. So I showed her the bucket and let her rummage through, reminding her that all this could be hers if she used the potty. All of a sudden she had to go. She strained and squeezed on the potty to no avail, but the next morning got straight on the potty, determined to claim a sticker. And she did. And has been ever since. I didn't think it was any coincidence that she chose nine candy related stickers before a piece of fruit. Silly girl.

Our system has been 1 sticker for peeing on the potty, 2 for pooping on the potty and a prize when she receives 5 stickers.

I haven't been confident enough to have her in underwear (which we will from this point on refer to as "everywhere" like Teagan does) so we've been using Pull-Ups. I'm a wimp, and maybe that's why it's taken her a while. So I decided to reward her with a fun pair of everywhere when she filled up a sticker chart. So last night when she got her last sticker and a prize, she picked out a pair of Lalaloopsy everywhere to wear the next day. And pee in. But we're focusing on the positive.

I asked her to show me her choice and give me a big smile so I could document the success and this is what i got. As I'm writing, we're watching the Olympics and a commercial came on and one of the athletes says, "My name is Toren. And this is my everywhere." Brandon and I caught each other's eye and chuckled heartily.

"My name is Teagan. And this is my everywhere."

At the risk of providing you with too much information, she's had a lot of trouble #2ing on the potty. It tends to hurt and she'd rather crouch in a corner and tell me not to look at her. But after going through 3 Pull-Ups in 5 minutes after having her sit on the potty and have her soil it once she got off, and two consecutive episodes in the bathtub (shudder) I was frustrated and forced her to sit on it. One should never commence potty training when the subject is suffering from diarrhea, but the silver lining is that all she did on the potty was toot and poop emerged, earning her a sticker and putting her over the edge for a reward. So we're hoping the momentum continues. Not the diarrhea necessarily, but the momentum. This business is exhausting!

Some of what I've been telling her has seeped in, because she explained a lot of it to Mason today. In the time it took me to grab a washcloth to strategically place during his bath (rookie mistake - should have had it ready), Mason made the mistake of peeing all over his sister's skirt. He then had to sit through a lecture (from the girl who wet her pants an hour earlier) on peeing and pooping on the potty, with bonus material covering proper tooting technique. Oh, the hypocrisy. But good to know she's listening. Although I never covered tooting.