Thursday, September 20, 2007

Homebound


My poor sweet hubby just had ACL reconstructive surgery and is spending his time on the couch. I have been trying to be at home as much as possible (not easy for me) and nice friends have taken the kids a few times to give him some peace. I decided to take advantage of the time home and attempt to potty train Emily.

So now let's talk about why I am

The World's Worst Potty Trainer- duh duh duh!!

Emily turns 3 in two weeks and I have dreaded the whole potty training stage. My son was pee-pee trained by 2, but refused to go #2 in the potty. It was not a fun experience (let's just say it involved suppositories...). So, with Emily, I decided I would wait until she begged me. So, in CA, out of nowhere she told me she needed to go poo poo in the potty. I put her on and sure enough, she went! She did it one more time and to reward her (and give myself some peace on the plane) I let her pick out prize. She picked a Sleeping Beauty set and she LOVED it.

Back at home, I had to decide if I was really ready to go through with this. Here is our first dialogue.

Me- Do you want to go pee pee on the potty?

Emily- No.

Me- OK.

I am amazing, aren't I? I should market my genius.

Why do I give up so easily? I think it is because I have no control over it. Even if I spend all day every day with Emily on the potty, there is no guarantee that she will go. So, in my head it is not worth the effort. Nice attitude, eh?

So, my good friend and neighbor has just finished potty training her barely 2 year old, and I know she is thinking what is wrong with Kelly? She offered to give Emily a lollipop every time Emily went in the potty. So, I decided to go for it. So, about 10 times a day Emily goes in the potty and then runs and knocks on the door and asks for her lollipop.

So far it is working like magic. She has had a few accidents and even had one today at kids gym (I had to clean the mats- yuck!) but she is doing fairly well. She has earned a few princesses and is very proud.

So, we will continue to see how this goes. Wish us luck. And wish Jeff a good speedy recovery. :-)


Bryce is going through a little bit of a rough stage. He is refusing to take a bottle and is not happy in Child Watch at the YMCA. I am not sure what to do, but I am just trying to be patient. Lucky for him, he is adorable and I love him!

Edited to add: Emily is asleep naked on the bathroom floor. I had asked her if she needed to go potty and she said no. Then she proceeded to go into the bathroom to wash her hands. I heard her start crying and yep, she went all over the floor. I took away her bag of princesses and she screamed and then fell asleep on the floor. It is official- I get the Worst Mom award. And lucky for me, my hubby was there to witness it all.

6 comments:

cherl said...

I love the last sentence. Isn't that the truth?

Friends are potty training their kids but I just dread going down that road with my own son (2y4mo) because from what I understand it is just as you put it: potty training is successful only - and only - when they are ready. We can push all we want in the beginning, but if they aren't ready then they aren't ready. I don't want to be one of those moms who is asking their child every two hours if they need to go and making them sit on the toilet for extended periods of time throughout the day. That to me says the child is clearly not ready. With the baby, my plate is full enough as it is right now!

And, honestly, I'm hoping one day he'll just decide he's ready and will have trained himself. Wishful thinking, I know. :)

skbkmjfamily said...

so if you really get the worst mommy award, than I have held that title for far too long. I hate potty training, it is awful and hard. I think the parent gets more trained than the child. I say, nobody get mad at me, who cares if she is not potty trained at 3. She has a new brother, and heck she might not really care. Now I know you want her potty trained two in diapers is awful, but in my expierence (isn't it great), I have found that the children I choose to allow to do it themselves, I am only there to encourage and every now and than ask, have been my easiest.

I would just keep it casual like you are doing. One thing we did with Maryn is prep her. For one month I told her every day that when she ran out of diapers I was not buying anymore, and that she would have to go in the potty. She was so excited (I ran out in Utah so I cheated, she never knew). The pooping was awful, but I gave her an out, a pullup. She knew she could not pee in it. 4 weeks later she was trained.

Don't stress, these moms who say their kids were trained in a week or a day, are forgetting about some of the accidents they had. We have great memories. Enjoy her, and really she is still young. I'm glad you took that award away from me, I was starting to get a complex.

Suzie Petunia said...

I'm pretty sure I will still have the opportunity to steal the title "The World's Worst Potty Trainer". After all, I still have one more child to traumatize with my lack of skills.

You're doing a great job. Em is doing a terrific job. Don't give up!

Anonymous said...

Kelly, sorry to break the news but you are far from the worst Mom award! You are a great Mom! And by the way...when are you going to add my blog to your list of friends? I think I've known you longer than most of them? :)

Chelle said...

Kelly, I decided to stop having children after #4 because potty training was kicking my trash! ; ) It is SO hard, and so different with every child. Don't take it personally-- really. Some just take longer, and that's that. Potty confession: my almost 4 year old still wears pull ups at night simply because I don't want to deal with night time accidents... she's probably ready, but I'm LAZY! Are you ready to hand over your "worst mom award"? I'm ready to accept it! hee hee.

Hang in there!

Bowers said...

Hey Kelly, I'm so glad you found me. It was good to hear from you. I need your e-mail so we can catch up. Mine is jaredbowers@comcast.net. I'd love to hear from you and keep in touch. Love, Kirstie (you don't have to post this)