Potty Training (or maybe not)

for quite a while now, Eden has been showing some of the signs of readiness to toilet train. I have been willfully ignoring those signs, as I really feel that until a child is completely and totally ready, potty training is just too much work. Call me lazy, I just don't want to deal with running to the toilet every 15 minutes and cleaning up accidents. We waited until just a hair shy of age three to do it with Sadie, and it was a breeze, so all along, I have been assuming we would do the same with Eden. For some reason, I veered from that plan and got her started yesterday. More on that in a moment, but first, an answer to why I strayed from my instincts on this one...

When we were doing this with Sadie, we were really on our own. Living hours away from family meant that even though we didn't have the benefit of the extra hands, we also didn't have the onus of the unsolicited advice. The fact that she wasn't toilet trained never really came up in the weekly phone calls. the only other person involved with her daily life was her babysitter, Ana, who was a big proponent of waiting until they are ready, so no pressure there. With Eden, it has been very different. Don't get me wrong, 99% of it has been wonderful, having so many people who love her involved in her upbringing. But, that said, there have also been a lot of comments from family and friends and a babysitter with a different ideology on toilet training that she was 'ready.' And so, I caved.

Now, having caved, I decided to approach it the same way I did with Sadie. I simply told her in the morning that today she was wearing big girl undies, and she needed to tell me when she had to go.




She does look cute in those big spanky training undies, doesn't she?

Anyway, within 10 minutes of putting them on, she soaked herself (and the couch). this seemed to be a bit of an 'aha' moment for her, as that was the only time all day that she was caught unaware. That said, I spent the better part of the day asking her if she needed to go, helping her get the undies on or off, and changing her when she didn't quite make it in time.

If I hadn't successfully trained one child already and seen how easy it could be when they are ready, I might have fooled myself into thinking we were making good progress. However, by 5pm, I was fried. She had gone through a half a dozen pairs of underwear, and it seemed that every time I turned around she was yelling "I have to go pee on the potty!" in a panicked voice. So, I've decided to back off for a while. I'm not ready to work this hard, and she clearly doesn't yet have the physical control. I would imagine we could do this routine for 2 months or so and then she would be trained, or I could wait two months and try again and it will go a lot more easily. I'm opting to wait.

She was pretty upset when I put her back in a diaper last night, but I calmly and cheerfully told her we'd try again 'real soon.' She did call out to use the potty first thing when she woke up this morning, so I know her heart is in to it, which is a good thing. Once mine is, I think we'll be all set. So, here's to a few more weeks or months of Huggies.