Potty Training

I am always dumb founded when parents mention that their child/children potty trained right away and without any hassle. I think, I am even more bamboozled when I hear that the child/children were potty trained by age 2. My oldest, took 18 months to fully potty train and what a struggle it was. My son, took about 6 months. He was a lot easier to train than the oldest, but we did have a more difficult time with doing #2 on the potty.

Two down and one to go. She is 2 1/2 years old. I first attempted Potty Training shortly after her second birthday. I bought her, what I thought, was a really cool potty chair that would play music when she was successful at using the potty. With two kids potty trained, I am thinking the third one won't be to bad. Was I wrong.

So it began. First thing first, set the clean potty chair in the living room so that the little one could get used to it and feel comfortable with it. I left it in the living room for about two days and then I had her move it to the bathroom. Next, take her to the bathroom every thirty minutes around the clock, unless she is sleeping of course. First day comes to an end and no success. It was only day one, what was I thinking? Day two same routine. On this day, she would sit, say she was done(even though she hadn't done anything) and then run out of the bathroom. As soon as she had her diaper on, she would go the bathroom. Now at this point I am feeling a little bit better because I feel that she is having some control as she waits until her diaper is on. Day three and success, she used the potty for the first time. I am so proud of her. The potty begins to sing and scares the daylights out of her and she runs from the bathroom screaming, "I don't like it!". From this point on, anytime I ask her if she needs to use the rest room or I guide her to her potty chair, I get the same reaction, "I don't like it!" It is amazing how quickly success turns to failure. I continue to encourage her to use the potty and still I get the same reaction. I take the batteries out and prove to her by pouring water in it that it will no longer sing. She still isn't having it.

After about a week of "I don't like it", I threw in the towel to save my insanity and decided to try again at another time. Fast forward 6 months and here we go AGAIN. I am hoping this will be the last attempt. My girl loves Minnie Mouse and as a form of encouragement, I bought her Minnie Mouse undies. Day one, sit on the potty, no success and I ended up with a lot more laundry that day. Day two, I am thinking, I will be smarter and instead of going to undies first, we are doing pull-ups. We have made many runs to the potty, but still no success. I am determined to get her potty trained and am hoping my patience will last. Funny thing is, every time she sits on the potty she wants to brush her teeth. I find myself wondering where she comes up with some of this stuff. I mean, really, who brushes their teeth when on the potty? Kids, gotta love them.

Potty Training is not fool proof and in my opinion, there is no right or wrong way. As with parenting, you've got to find what method works best for each child, remember that each child is an individual and what works for one certainly is not guaranteed to work for the next. At this point the only thing I can do is be consistent, encouraging and cross my fingers that it will all "click" for her real soon.