Oh, Crap

When Isabella turned two the questions about potty training started rolling in.  At that point I was neck deep in dissertation stuff so I just replied with a "We are in no rush".  It wasn't until we went to the beach that I actually had a chance to breath and start looking into it.  I mean, clearly I had a vague idea as to how it worked.  BUT after attempting to help train Andi last year I was not looking forward to the process and wanted to go at it with a more concrete plan of action (shocking I know).

I read two different books on the topic.  One was a very gentle approach which included a lot of information about physiology which was actually super informative.  The other was a much more direct approach (often referred to as the "Oh, Crap" method).  Normally I would have tried a hybrid of the two; however, there was a part of the direct approach that struck me to my core.  It spoke of how an optimal time to potty train is between 24-30 months as, for many, they are physically ready and have not yet hit their peak of obstinance.  Well dang, my kid and her obstinance were already making me feel like banging my head against the wall.  So that was enough to move my time table up from "some time before she is 3" to this summer.

We cleared our calendars the last weekend of July to give this our best shot.  Girlfriend was naked all day Saturday and as the day went on she seemed to start getting the hang of it.  By Sunday after nap we were ready to try adding some clothes to the mix.  Feeling pretty good about things overall.  Then came Monday and the s*&! hit the fan, both literally and figuratively.

You see cognitively and physically Isabella was ready to potty train, but once the initial appeal wore off she was clearly (and vocally!) in camp "No Potty!".  In fact "No potty!" was her battle cry for a full hour on Monday as she proceeded to cry, scream, and kick her little potty when I told her we had to sit on the potty before going to the pool.  While there are those that would have said give it up, she's just not ready, I felt like if I let it go now it will be even MORE of a battle down the road.  And to some degree I turned out to be right.   After that hour she did sit on the potty and the next day the no potty tirade only lasted 30 minutes:/.  By Tuesday she was also fully boycotting the little potty and would only use the big potty with the potty seat.  Wednesday came and after two back to back accidents I was ready to throw in the towel and, in fact, set a deadline of next Friday to hit the pause button if things didn't improve.

BUT it was like she read my mind and by Wednesday afternoon things started to turn around!  There are still, and I'm assuming, will continue to be accidents for a while.  BUT I do think she is getting it!