Potty Training Update

Potty training continues here in Momma's household.

It hasn't been an easy task, but I've now accepted that the potty training in one day method isn't going to work for my daughter. I hoped, I mean REALLY believed it was the answer I searched in vain for, but like most made-for-tv offers, it didn't live up to its promises.

Potty training started in earnest two Saturdays ago (or is it three? I'll have to check the date on the last post. Time is slipping away so quickly....). Emily woke up dry; I took it as an omen that she was going to be fully trained by that evening. I brought her into the bathroom and asked her to sit down on the training potty. Earlier I moved her potty so it faced the wall, which was decorated with a new poster I made using a number of PECS images. Usually the PECS images are black and white, but I colored in the most important one, if you know what I mean. Used bowl if you don't.

Anyways, I sat Emily down and explained the pictures to her. She looked at them with interest as she nibbled on the candy I provided to make potty time party time. She sat for a while calmly; then suddenly, she wanted to bolt. Keeping in mind she still hadn't gone potty for the morning, I sat her back down. She started shaking her head no; her body language was that of fear. "Yellow blankie! Pink blankie!" she cried. I gave her the blankets, her bunny, her juice, and then held her in a tight hug to imitate swaddling. And then it happened.

Emily made her first ever Pee Pee on the Potty!!! My initial exhilaration was quickly hampered by the fact Emily, as she went, kept saying, "Oh no! Oh no! Pee pee, oh oh!". Oh no is right! She thought she was going to the bathroom in the wrong place, and she was so upset and embarrassed. I had to act quick to set it right. I got up and started dancing and singing, Nora came running and joined in, and soon it was a potty party. Popsicles for breakfast didn't hurt to promote using the pot either. She was then placed in a very pretty, very purple, pair of Dora the Explorer underwear.

Training continued for the rest of the weekend with some notable successes and failures. Emily hid behind the compost bin to pee outside, poor purple Dora panties. She used the toilet of 3 times on Saturday and three times on Sunday. She has woken up dry every single morning since we started.

The failures, however, were even bigger. On Monday Emily started to have many more accidents in the house, probably because Ryan wasn't here to help me keep an eye on her. On Tuesday, when we went to sit down first thing in the morning, Emily refused. She pointed to the potty and said in a deep, serious voice, "Terrible". Oh my, for someone who doesn't speak much that said volumes. I didn't push the issue. The following day, I found her in the corner squatting. I put her on the potty, and she bit me. She left teeth marks in my arm.

Emily's therapists advised me to stop potty training and start again when the time seemed right. After another week of just watching her behavior, its become apparent that she doesn't want to eliminate when anyone is the in room with her. So that is where we are at now. I almost never ask her if she needs to use the bathroom, and I wait for her to tell me. Sometimes I find the evidence that she has used the potty and then did a bad job cleaning up after herself, which is almost worse than diapers, but this is the path we've started on and I'm not going back.

In the last seven days, I would say on average she continues to use the potty 2 to 3 times a day, and always when she wakes up. Just today I started again asking her if she needs to use the bathroom, to mixed results. When asked, she still gets angry. But, when I found her in the bathroom having trouble trying to sit on the big potty, I helped her up and guess what!! Today Emily took her first deuce and it was the first time she used the big potty! A number two two-fer!!!!