The following post is basically just so I can document this milestone in Evelyn's life. If you are not interested in how we are potty training our child, you'll be bored, and probably just want to skip reading this one. If you are interested, please know that this is what works for us. Every child and family is different, so I encourage you to find what works for you (if you have done this before, or are going to have to do it in the future). I know my way isn't always the right way.
So, for the past month or so, Evelyn has been obsessed with her diaper. Her hands were in it all. the. time. Which, is annoying, but it's especially annoying and disgusting when she happens to have a nice #2 in there.
Yes.
I kept finding her with poo all over her hands. And one time, it was on her chin.
I don't want to know.
I have known for about a month that she has been showing signs that she's ready to potty train. But, I hate potty training. Who doesn't? I was being lazy and just didn't want to do it. Plus, she's 2 months younger than Avery was when we trained her. And Avery was "easy." Evelyn has proven time and time again that she is the exact opposite person that her sister is. We love her so much. She is just more challenging.
Avery is such a sweet little pleaser. She's a rule follower, for the most part, and just wants mommy and daddy to be happy. While it makes things like potty training "easier," it also makes me feel so guilty when I lose my patience with her and she looks sad. Bad mommy! Oh, I am such a sinner!
Evelyn is also so stinking sweet. That is something she and Avery have in common. Evelyn's sweetness saves her. She is sweet, and sneaky, and deceitful, and fearless. Sneaky and deceitful, I could do without. Fearless - I admire. I'm a lot like Avery. It's that oldest child thing. A little cautious, people pleaser, don't stir the pot. I admire Evelyn's fearlessness. That girl has confidence.
So. I wasn't sure what to expect with potty training. I have learned from Avery, and my nieces, and my friends, that potty training can easily become a battle of the wills. Control.
Fun, fun!
Today is Saturday. This past Wednesday morning, Evelyn woke up in her crib and Stephen went downstairs to get her and found her with poop all over the place. I could hear the anger, frustration, and downright disgust in his voice over the monitor. I ran downstairs to help and try to ease the tension. It was nasty. It was disgusting. It was the tenth time this has happened. Yes, I was keeping count.
When we came upstairs and bathed her, I took a look at my Mom Agenda and saw that I had no commitments until Sunday. Today was the day. We are going to start potty training. I just couldn't handle the poop anymore.
So today is day 4. We did the 3 Day Potty Training Method with Avery two years ago and it worked. It's a week of hell, but it works. I'd rather have a week of hell than 6-12 months of constant bed-wetting and accidents, filled with pull-ups and confusion.
Day 1 went relatively well. She peed in the potty chair 3 times and I began to see what her "signals" were. Basically, she just stops whatever she's doing and gets really quiet. But she's fast. By the time I notice she's gotten quiet, she's already peed her pants. Or pooped. But that only happened twice.
At naptime, she went through 7 pairs of underwear (yeah for Minnie Mouse panties from Costco!) and didn't sleep, so by bedtime, it was clear to me that for all of our sanity, I wasn't going to do undies while sleeping yet. For Evelyn, her sleeping patterns are so quirky anyway, I didn't want this whole experience making sleeping even worse. However, even that first night, she hardly peed in her diaper at all. She usually poops first thing in the morning in her diaper, but she didn't. I could tell she was already realizing she has control over "that feeling."
We were so "by the book" with Avery and did everything the method said to do. She literally quit diapers cold-turkey, and sleeping time actually went better than when she was awake! She only wet the bed twice that first week. Like I said, easy. But, Avery is our "by the book" kid. Evelyn's not, so we have modified the method for her.
And she really is doing well! While going through all of this, she is sleeping in the pack 'n play in our bedroom so that she is close by for naptime and nighttime. I'm hoping to get her out of diapers while sleeping in the next couple of weeks. I think she'll start telling us when she needs to go. This morning at 6:30, she woke up and said, "Mommy, potty!" I took her in there and she went! So, she started off the day with an M&M!
I'm hoping today, she starts verbally telling us. Yesterday, Stephen was watching her while I made dinner and she quietly started peeing in the living room and ran to the bathroom by herself, sat on the potty (with her panties still pulled up), and peed through her panties into the potty! Even though she left a trail from the living room to the bathroom, she knew she had to go. And she still got that M&M! Stephen tried explaining to her again that she needs to tell Mommy or Daddy when she needs to go potty. She said, "Yes!" She is too cute.
So, there is light at the end of the tunnel. Potty training is still like teething. It's from the devil. But, I guess it's a necessary skill to learn, and I guess I'm responsible for teaching my kids to do it. And I guess in the grand scheme of things, it's probably good if my kids aren't wearing diapers still and smearing their poop in random places when they're in high school.
