Potty Training

By: Brandy Black

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Does anyone ever look forward to potty training? I think I’ve been dreading it for months. I envied friends that had put it behind them quickly, that saw that golden window of opportunity and went for it. We put it off. Honestly, I don’t think there was a window that we missed but maybe I wasn’t looking hard enough. My daughter is now 2.9 years old and we determined that it is time. We have waited so long that now that it is finally time, we have done no preparation. We have one potty, Elmo’s Potty Time Video, and Pull Ups for nap and nighttime. I’m pretty sure I dropped the ball on the whole research thing this time. Somewhere along the line I actually got comfortable with being a parent and I’m wondering if maybe that wasn’t a good idea. The parenting books have been collecting dust and I’ve actually been reading delicious romantic novels again. But, now I fear we might be in trouble. I remember about a year ago reading an article about potty training and I don’t think it was this simple; if I remember correctly, it involved multiple potties in every room, a well-thought-out plan and I don’t remember what else but the article was pretty long. Here goes a deluge of insecure parenting moments; this happens every so often when someone gives me unwarranted advice. After I curse them out in my mind and come down from my pedestal, I realize that they might be right. Then I get angry at myself for not being more on top of it. Why did I read 32 Candles last night and not Superbaby? Why am I not using the words “take turns” instead of “share”? What’s the difference anyway? They are just words! How would a kid understand one more than the other? I really have to look that up! “I really have to look that up” seems to be part of my vocabulary quite often these days. I digress. Let’s get back to potty training. So we begin tomorrow and I have decided to document each day.

Wish me luck…

Day One
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I was in a good mood today, ready to start the potty training, excited for a change. When Sophia woke up, I took her straight to the potty as if we’d been doing it for weeks. She refused to sit on it.

“No No No!” she screamed.

This was going to be a bad day. Susan is working and I refuse to go backwards. We’ve decided to do this, it’s clearly time, Sophia doesn’t really like her diapers, shes wants to wear underwear, but how in the world am I going to get her used to the potty?!

We put on her underpants and she sat on the couch with her milk to watch Yo Gabba Gabba. I put a towel underneath her just in case and brought the potty out to the living room, reminding her to tell me when she needed to go. 10 minutes later…

“Change my dipes, Mama.”

Running out to her from the kitchen, “you don’t have diapers, baby remember? Here, let’s go potty.”

But when I get to her, she’s wet, the couch is wet, the towel was futile. Thus begin my notes on Day One:

Accident Notes

1- wash couch cover (first accident)
2- take rug to laundromat (too big for our washing machine)
3- take living room rug to drycleaner (too big for laundromat)
4- this one was in the tub
5- just peed on clothes (not bad)

Loads of Laundry: 2

Pee in Potty
10:31AM- pee in potty (not with me, with Susan)
*Note she took the white thing out of the potty and just squatted over it. huh?!

4:13PM- pee in potty (not with me, with Susan)
*Note – there were 2 hours out of the day that Susan was available to assist and Sophia chose those 2 hours to potty.

5:28PM- pee in potty (hooray, finally I witness a win)
*Another interesting note- Sophia never goes potty in front of us