Potty Training for 3 years

Who would have thought that 3 years later I'd still be potty training???? Dylan was 2 years and 4 months when I thought, we need to do the real deal. I informed Greg that I needed a long weekend with 2 parents home to fully potty train Dylan. So on July 3, 2007 I put Dylan in big boy undies and let him tinkle on himself until it was complete. I still remember that God had blessed us with a rainy 4th of July. We were at a neighborhood party outside with light rain all day. Every time Dylan tinkled on himself, he would cry, but at least it wasn't a mess I had to clean up in front of the new neighbors. 3 days later he was potty trained. Yes, there were accidents, but all in all we were finished.

Now, who would of thought almost 3 years to the day I would be potty training again? And that doesn't even count the child I potty trained in between. Kaley has been telling me off and on she needs to potty, etc. Because of my Logan experience, I have decided the earlier you train the better.

I started Logan when he was about 3 because I was tired, had 3 kids, and thought that he would be ready when he was ready. Not so much. I actually ended up with a child who was in the "Terrific Threes" who was testing his independence and STUBBORN. What a great way to show your independence when you actually do have control over your body and could care less what runs down your legs, etc. It took MONTHS! I'll leave it at that.

****Oh my! This child just pooped in the potty while I sat on the couch typing this. *****

So anyway, we are on day 3 of hard core potty training with Kaley. The boys are in camp this week, Logan is in camp again next week, and then back to only Kaley the next so I decided that this was the time to potty train. Our parents potty trained us at like 18 months. Why can't we all do the same? You especially feel this way after child #1 and #2 training experiences. =)

I do have to preface this with the info that Kaley was already interested in the potty AND could go when we sat her on there almost immediately. That sentence was just in case I'm that grandmother that says things were so easy with my kid and I come back to this blog for proof. Maybe that will help Kaley or my DILs. I love you, MOM!

We went to buy undies on Tuesday. I thought we were going to come out with a pack of Dora panties, but Minnie won out. She was soooooo excited that I had to put them on in the Target parking lot after buying them. Next stop, Lowe's to pick up some tile. We went potty there and then picked up Logan at summer camp and Incorporated another potty stop. I thought I was super mom doing potty training on the go. She did great all day (with me telling her every 30 minutes to go). Of course, we still diaper at night.

Wednesday rolled around she decided to put my ego in place. In fact, we had 2 accidents back to back before 10:30am so I called it a day. She didn't even care about sitting in her car seat soaked. "Uh oh, Logan experience." Potty training really is about the parent.

This morning we've been back on track, but just before I started writing she was eating in her learning tower, the best investment EVER, and started crying like she had fallen down or something. I run over and there is a HUGE puddle. My first thought was "AWESOME! She doesn't like it!!!" Forget the fact that she is super upset, I have to clean it all up, and convince her that her Dora pants have to go in the wash because they are dirty now. It still rocks even with another accident 5 minutes later with a repeat of the Dora pant situation except you need to substitute Elmo in there . I told her to go sit on the potty to "finish it up" and what happens???? She sits reading books and poops in the potty!

I'm hoping by the end of 3 weeks will be done. Why am I so determined? This is my last time to do this. If I fail and she prolongs it for another year, so what? It might be a little waste of my time, but I'm not getting paid anyway. However, if I get her trained this month it would be no more diapers for me and I finished with the worst part of parenting to date.

I realized how much my parents actually loved me when I potty trained my child. You have to love that kid to deal with all the mess.