Tuesday, August 9, 2011

potty training--day 1 of ???

I've tried to be really laid back about potty training and not push her. I know she'll learn so I wasn't too worried. I've tried a few times with little success and gave up soon before Gabriel was born. Grandma Janet had some success (more than we ever had) when Gabriel was born. It is discouraging, being the behavior lady, having a stubborn toddler that's outsmarting me. Here's some things we've tried.

--praise and encouragement
--stickers, fruit snacks, potty paper (certificates saying you did it)
--pirate ship "doll" house as a big prize
--big girls go potty
--picking underwear
--possibility of picking more new underwear
--small potty seat or one on the toilet
--using the mantle clock bell to have her go at least once an hour (led to a fight every hour, on the hour...well, maybe not that much....but the last month is the only time I told her she had to go potty because I didn't want to make it a power struggle.)
--letting her choose underwear or pull ups
--and probably other things I've forgotten

Enough is enough--she's almost 3 1/2--the plan is no more pull ups and she can earn "screen time" three times a day if she stays dry or poops in the potty. She loves Al's iphone so hopefully this will help. We made a chart together to keep track of her successes. I'm also going to leave it up to her to decide to do it or not as to avoid the power struggle. We planned together on which day to stop wearing pull ups and gave them away. She loves pull ups--that's the problem. Last night, she decided to wear underwear and then peed on the floor. I told Al she didn't really like it but spelled urine instead of pee when talking to him so she wouldn't figure it out. She figured it out and said something like, "Are you talking about my pee on the floor?" Since she figured it out, I said it doesn't feel very good to go potty in your pants. She told me she likes to cuddle up next to her pee. Yup, stubborn and too smart for her own good. Today, we had little success and several yucky poop incidents to deal with. We even had a crisis with poop on her princess dress. I'm making her help clean up the messes, which is absolutely more disgusting than actually doing it myself. Today, I had to threaten little miss stubborn with throwing away the princess dress if she didn't clean it up. After the last gross mess of the day, she found a pull up to wear. I hope things get better soon. Off to do laundry...

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