the Bachlers

the Bachlers
December 2008

Thursday, August 28, 2008

Potty Training


The last couple of weeks, Aly and I have been trying the potty training.(Levi gets to help on the weekends.) We have tried it before, but I always gave up after the fourth clean up during the first day. So I decided that MY pride would not allow me to see Aly in diapers on her third birthday. With pep talks from those experienced in the "training of potty" and a new sense of determination we began training again on the 14th of Aug. By the fourth day after Aly had stood in the master bathroom "toilet closet" and peed in front of the toilet without telling me she needed to go potty I broke into tears. I had lost all my patience. "Don't yell at the child" I kept repeating to myself. Aly came out of the bathroom and patted me on the shoulder and said "It's OK mommy." So through my tears I explained in a calm voice why it wasn't OK. Ever since then she has been pretty good. Had I known my crying would help I would have done that on the second day. She still has small accidents, but she does tell me when she has to go. The #2 potty is still an issue. I left her with a friend two days ago while I ran some errands. She has a three year old who is going through separation anxiety from her older siblings returning to school. So I left Aly there while I finished delivering some notes. Twenty minutes later when I returned and we went upstairs to see what the girls had been doing, there was the ever present odor of poop. I knew it was Aly and when I picked her up, she was wet down the inside of her capris and the stench was definitely coming from her. I said my thanks and apologies (no leaks thank goodness), and took Aly out to the car where I had the spare panties and wipes, etc. Oh My Goodness!!!!! You'd think the girl had stored up the #2 for a few days!!!! No little girl her size should be able to perform this fab body function without losing five pounds. Talk about a "dump". So now I have to drive home with the pile on my floorboard. When I got home the panties went into the toilet. I was honestly going to rinse them out with a few flushes like the old days with the cloth diapers, but by the third flush I lost my dainty hold and the panties were gone. Oops. There's got to be a better way to potty train. When I create my universe I hope I will have figured it out. Maybe this is God's way of getting back at me for something foolish I did in the pre-existence. I'll let you know how "we" do after our next road trip. . . . . Heaven help us!

5 comments:

San said...

You should be ss lucky as me - Levi and Marie came poty trained. Now, as for Craig, when I whinned at the doctor's office, when Craig was three, the pediatrician said, "Relax, you learned how, didn't you!". Well, I relaxed, Craig relaxed and it eventually happened.

Jodi and Josh said...

Potty training is definately the hardest thing I've ever done... and now Max thinks he's ready too...
I was laughing at the panties being flushed down the toilet!! Hilarious!
I usually toss them!
Keep up the good work!

Ms. Boedee said...

You can do it, my Jedi friend. :)

Kristi said...

Ah, yes, isn't potty training lovely? I remember the first day of trying to potty train Carter. I went to pick up Chris from school and started crying when he asked me how the potty training was going. I won't post here the things I was thinking but decided not to say about my child (not super terrible but not exactly motherly, either).
Maybe you could just save the potty training for Levi on a day you go get a 1 hour massage (as if). Good luck, you're doing awesome!

Amy said...

Oh Karen, that was great! I am so dreading the potty training as well.