Potty Training Emma

Well, I decided to tackle one of my least favorite parenting responsibilities this week--potty training! YUCK!! The reason: well, apparently even girls in my family think it's fun to "poo paint." Yes, for those of you lucky enough to not know what that is--use your imagination! We're three for three. The boys did it--often! When we moved to West Valley, I drilled a peep-hole in the door to check on them during their naps to help with this problem. Thank heavens for the peep hole! I caught Emma at it twice last week. The first time I tried not to make a deal of it, but the second time--well, let's just say. . .the anger from two previous children came unleashed on our darling, disgusting daughter. Then, the final straw. . .during her naptime on Sunday morning, I looked through the peep hole to discover her without any pants or diaper on. When I came in she said (with a big grin on her face), "Look Mama, yucky!" She was pointing past her wet diaper on the floor to the heat vent. Yep, she lifted the vent, squatted and left a nice pile of poo for me. I decided right there and then that if she could squat and do it in the vent, she could squat and do it on the toilet! (I was grateful this happened on a Sunday while Lou was home. I took Emma and cleaned her up, while he took care of her deposit!)

Easier said than done. . . actually, she's only had one "poopy" accident since we started on Monday. Hallelujah!! Anyway. . .long story longer. . .I have literally spent hours and hours in the bathroom this week trying to get her potty trained. It took 3 days for her to even realize HOW to "tinkle." That was frustrating. She had success up until then only because she spent hours on the pot with me reading to her until it just happened. She finally figured it out on Day 3 during her naptime when she was supposed to be resting. Thanks again to the peep hole, I caught her twice with her pants off peeing on her bed. I was so frustrated until Mom pointed out to me that she was figuring out how to do it. And sure enough, from then on, she would get a more relaxed look on her face and let it go (rather than the pushing she kept doing for both #1 and #2). [Is she going to hate me for this blog later on? Sorry Emma. You have to understand, this is ALL I have been doing for 4 days straight. I can't think of anything else! Sorry this has turned into a journal entry!]

I really hoped that I could potty train her in a day (there's a book that says you can do it--yeah right! They have to be more ready than she is.). I thought the worst case scenario would be that I'd have her trained by Friday. Well, we've made progress, but I must say that the one getting potty trained is ME! As long as I stay completely on top of it (pretty much every 15 minutes), she does pretty well. But, as soon as we have visitors, we have to go in the car to pick Damian up from school, etc. she's back to wetting herself. So. . .my new goal is to get to a point where she cares if she's wet and recognizes when she has to go. How much longer do I have to go through this? Sorry. . .rambling again. Okay, I'll stop. Just figured you might want to know why you haven't heard from me this week.

By the way, I wish I could share the picture of Emma that shows how she generally sits on the toilet (with her legs straight out), but I decided it wouldn't be appropriate for all to view. Hopefully this picture isn't too inappropriate. Do you like how the book is strategically placed? She was just opening it when I took the picture. Usually she's looking at the story rather than the inside cover.

Oh, I almost forgot, since I have her go through the entire bathroom routine each time she goes potty (remember, about every 15 minutes!), she has learned the alphabet song quite well. It's so cute to hear her singing the ABCs while washing her hands!

Isn't it great being a mom? :) I love my little girl!!