Potty Talk

In the last week I have become alot more serious about this whole toilet training thing for several reasons. First of all my daughter is 2.5 years old and fully understands the elimination process. I believe she continually soils herself because she simply does not care and is not motivated. After all if you do not mind the feeling of being soiled why would you want to stop playing and pull your pants down to sit on the potty...that is way too much work for a 2-year old. She is also in the rebellion stage and the fact that we want her to sit on the toilet makes her even less inclined to sit on the toilet.
Secondly I enrolled her in preschool for the fall last week and even though she does not have to be completely toilet trained when she starts I would really like to strive for that. I realize that September is still 6 months away but I am worried that she is just so comfortable in her current situation that unless something changes she will not.
Thirdly I purchased Tracy Hogg's newest book, The Baby Whisperer Solves All Your Problems: Sleeping, Feeding, and Behavior--Beyond the Basics from Infancy Through Toddlerhood. Her views on toilet training may be perceived as extreme but made alot of sense and motivated me to tackle this issue a little more seriously.

I have found there are alot of views on potty training and I have had difficulty navigating my way through all of them and determing what approach is going to work best for Kylee. The two main approaches are the child led and the parent led training. I started off in the former approach but I realized that Kylee needs some guidance and a little motivation so I have taken over the process a bit.

Interestingly Tracy Hogg recommends starting potty training earlier than later, which is in contradiction to popular opinion. She states that if you start potty training after your child turns 2 it will be more difficult due to the fact that it is a very oppositional age (your telling me!). I really wish I had received this information a year and a half a go. She recommends starting at 9 months and just allowing the child to get used to the potty while they are still cooperative. This will definitely the approach I am taking with Myles.

Kylee has been in pull-ups for almost a year now and I think I have done more damage than good. She has spent one too many times in a soaking wet pull-up, as a result of mommy's laziness. She has become so used to that feeling that it does not even phase her. However lately she has been telling me that she is soaked, which demostrates that she does have a threshold for wetness.

I have officially started potty training by creating incentives for her to sit on the potty (e.g. You can watch sesame Street after you sit on the potty). Once she sits on the potty we will then read a book, play with a toy, or the other day we watched Sesame Street on the computer for 20 minutes. I then read that your child should only sit on the potty for 3 minutes ata time(oops) so we have stopped it from becoming a lounging chair. When Kylee produces "pee pee" or "poo poo" she gets a chocolate and we do a potty dance. I have also been changing her pull-up the minute it is wet so that Kylee can start understanding the elimination process and learn that it is not appropriate to hang out in your own waste.

I have definitely started seeing some progress. She is alot more willing to sit on the potty and is putting up less resistance. She is also really proud after she sits on the potty. Its going to be really exciting to see more and more progress each day and I am throwing a party when she is finally potty trained.

As Tracy Hogg says in her book, potty training is a milestone no different then walking or talking. You do not keep a child in their crib and expect them just to start walking. Walking requires lots of practice and it happens gradually over many months. Children need the same practice when it comes to potty training and eventually practice will make perfect.

Bringing the bigger picture into focus

Parenting is the hardest job anyone will ever tackle. I realized this the day I brought my daughter Kylee home from the hospital and I started sleeping in 2 hour intervals. However the exhaustion of the newborn days does not even compare to the terrible twos.
Once Kylee hit the wonderful age of 2 I was able to experience the incredible joy of watching her little body flail, kick and scream because I took the banana out of the peel before I gave it to her.
Now that we have introduced Kylee's brother Myles into the scene my life has become even more hectic and busy. Every day with a toddler and a baby can become very tedious and tiresome. I try to be the best mother I can be by offerring guidance, instilling good manners and values, and providing opportunities for them to become physically and emotionally fit.
Some days though I have to ask yourself, "Is it really worth it?", "Am I really accomplishing anything?" These questions usually arise when I am playing with my children and I am simply exhausted or I am reading the 50th book to my daughter at bedtime or dealing with yet another meltdown. The one thing I have realized though is that every moment I spend with my children is a drop in the bucket of who they are going to become. I want my children to become the best people they can be and to live to their fullest potential. The idiom drop in the bucket means "an insufficient or inconsequential amount in comparison with what is required". Some days I feel like everything I do is just a drop in the bucket and that it is insufficient. The truth is that every moment with my children is a drop in their bucket that is slowly filling up and when it comes time for them to find their own way in the world they will have a bucket that is overflowing with fond memories, good values, and wisdom that will enable them to live their best life.
Most days when I ask myself, "Is it worth it?", "Am I really accomplishing anything?" I answer with a resounding "yes"