1. Because we are all still alive.
2. Because I only cried once.
3. Because we got the deuce.
4. Because it ended on a good note.
We are trying the "3 day method". This means that for 3 days, we will focus on nothing but potty training. No leaving the house, no cooking, no house chores (while she's awake at least), nothing that will take concentration away from getting it in the pot. Basically, Em wears nothing but undies and a t-shirt. After ceremoniously throwing a fresh diaper away, we showed her where the pee and poo has to go from now on. All this time constantly saying, "Keep your panties dry and tell Mommy when you have to go potty, ok?" Then we wait, watch, and keep saying the previous sentence about a gajillion more times. If she starts to go, we run her to the bathroom and try to finish there following up with lots of praise and rewards. Now, this is all a little easier said than done. The whole point of the three days is to keep everything positive...a tough thing to do when pee and poo is being spread all over the house in copious amounts at rapid speed.
The morning started off with a little surprise on the floor from Lincoln. I discovered this when I was already 4 pairs down on underwear. I took this as a bad omen since he is normally pretty good about not having accidents in the house. By 10am I think we had already gone through 15 pairs of underwear. My expectations of how often this child can pee were seriously off. And though she has yet to start and finish a pee in the pot, I did catch a few that finished nicely there. Em was excited to get cookies for those.
Her greatest accomplishment of the day was one that everyone had me worrying over...the dreaded poo. My friends had been telling me that while the pee caught on fairly quickly, they had trouble with the poo. Luckily Emery has a serious tell on her face when she has one a brewing. I ran her to the potty as fast as my legs would go where she was able to make a hole in one! I was so excited that I started clapping and jumping for joy. Cookies all around! Next time though, I'll keep my composure a little longer because I was so proud of her that I stopped paying attention and let her up. She took another poop on the floor and then handed it to me. Lesson learned.
One of the hardest things about the day is staying positive after they do the right thing one minute and completely relapse the next. After talking with friends who had also tried this method, I tried to keep my expectations as low as possible for the first day. I quickly learned that being nearby doesn't mean you are watching as closely as recommended. Even as I started typing bits of this post this afternoon, she let loose on the seat right next to me while wearing a fairly new pair of shoes which she had just begged me to put on her feet about 3 minutes prior. Two lessons learned. (I finished this post after putting her to bed and locked the rest of her shoes in the guest bedroom.)
The absolute hardest thing about today was missing a nap. She actually went down nicely but woke up about 20 minutes later due to coughing. The book says that if they stir or wake up, you should take them to the potty. Well, Emery doesn't go back in the crib very well after you take her out. So by 6pm she was in full blown meltdown just in time for Daddy to come home. Em wouldn't eat, wouldn't pee, wouldn't go to Daddy, wouldn't sit or do anything. This was also when I lost it and shed a few tears myself. What a nice atmosphere to come home to right? I quickly regained my composure and got back to work because it was clear that she had to go. Unfortunately, she wouldn't. So we threw her in the tub. Nothing like warm water on your toes to get you going. And boy did it. I believe David's words were, "Get that girl a urinal!"
After the bath, things calmed down and ended on a good note. I waited for Em to go one last time before going to bed. Most of it made it to the potty and she was so proud. We all clapped and cheered and hugged and ate cookies. Lets hope this leads into a good night and a happy tomorrow.
*Note: All pictures were taken about 5 seconds after I put on the first pair. I didn't have much time for pictures after that.
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