So today was Em's first official day of potty training....again. I attempted about a month ago, but it didn't go so well so I decided to break down and read a book about it. So I got Oh Crap, Potty Training. That title pretty much sums it up. Actually today wasn't so bad. I explained the blocks (stages) in my April 2nd entry, so I won't repeat myself there. So she is in block one...even though it goes by readiness, not number of days, the author says typically block one lasts from about 1-3 days I think.
I could maybe move her to block 2 tomorrow, but I don't think it will hurt to have an extra day of block one. So when I first woke up I realized my husband had gotten her up and dressed without knowing she was to be naked today, so I had to make a big production out of taking her jammies and diaper back off. The original plan was to stay in the kitchen for a few days so pee could be easily wiped up, but a few things derailed that plan. 1) I have been busy and lazy lately, so the kitchen floor is not mopped and there is a decent amount of dog hair. 2) the living room is not clean and picked up either, so being in the kitchen would mean the dog is in the living room, having a field day chewing up toys, shoes, remotes, and whatever else she can get her mouth on. 3) I wasn't sure what to do in the kitchen. Yeah she's a toddler, she can find stuff to entertain her, but most the switch was due to 4), the kitchen is not comfortable.
I would either have to sit on the cold hard tile floor, or one of the hard kitchen chairs. No thanks. I figured hell, our puppy peed all over our living room carpet when she was training, why not let the kid? I borrowed my stepmom's carpet cleaner, so once she is reasonably trained I'll have to shampoo the carpet. But that leads me to this thought....I thought we would NEVER get our puppy house trained. We got her in May, and she wasn't 100% trained until October. And I am not even really sure when it happened, it's like one day she just got it, and has never had an accident since. She does really really well, especially for only being 13 months old.
We've recently stopped putting her in her cage at night since she has more room in the kitchen and a comfy bed, and she typically won't go out to potty once it's too late, so most nights she goes from 10pm till 8am or even a little later. On the rare occasion we all sleep in till like 9 or 9:30, I go out to the kitchen cringing, expecting to find a puddle or pile but nope. We must have gotten a part dog, part camel breed. So I guess I shouldn't be too intimidated to train Em, since I did eventually get the dog trained, and at least Em can sometimes understand what I am saying to her. It's too bad though that we can't use the "don't crap where you eat" method on kids.
Anyway, back to the kid. So I was supposed to watch her all day....like do nothing else but watch her. I am unsure of how serious the author was being. Ok, I get that you shouldn't go put in a load of laundry, or re-tile the bathroom during this time period....but I found it very difficult to just sit there and keep my eyes on her all day. Yes I did play with her, and we did do things....but I think it's just human nature for your attention to wander a little. But I still think I did ok. So her first pee came with virtually no warming, and she peed while standing on top of a box that needs to be shipped out. Oops.
I tried to grab her as fast as I could and get her on the pot, but I don't think she had much pee left and only got a few drops in the toilet. After that I let my guard down. She is normally a camel, she'll hold her pee for hours, then whoosh, flood the diaper all at once. But I am not used to her peeing habits when she has had extra liquids like today. So I wasn't really paying much attention when about 20 minutes later she peed again. This time I was a little quicker about getting her on the pot, so more pee went in the potty. She was begging me to take her outside to play, it was really killing me. it was such a nice day too, but it wasn't warm enough for her to run around naked outside.
A few blocks away someone was tossing a little playhouse, and was offering it for free. Of course the one time we want to haul something, our truck is in the shop. We tried to get it in the back of the SUV but it wouldn't fit. My dad is never one to pass up a good garbage pick, especially for his little princess, but I felt bad asking him to come since he lives like 20 minutes away, and there was no way to guarantee it would still be there. But a good garbage pick, plus coming to play with Em for a bit was apparently enough to persuade him. I was able to go outside and see down the street that it was still there when he was ready to come over, and 20 minutes later we had a new playhouse, yay! And of course it's the one day she cannot go outside to play in it.
So after Baba left, Em was sitting on my lap and we were playing something and she says pee pee. I said, you have to go pee pee? So I put her on the pot, and she sat for a minute or two....I gave her a book to read (which btw makes for an adorable picture) and then I hear the glorious sound of pee going in the potty. Yay, she pretty much told me she had to go, and got it all in the pot. A short while later I put her down for a nap and explained as best I could that she was getting a diapy back on because she is still learning, and cannot control her pee pee in her sleep. Of course she pooped in her diaper during her nap, but that is to be expected....for now.
So I wasn't sure how long it had been since she peed, so I prompted her quite a bit once she woke up to try peeing, but she either refused, or just wouldn't go when sitting on the potty. About ten minutes later, she peed on the floor. I think I got some in the potty. So then a few more hours went by with no pee at all. I tried to get her to keep drinking but she discovered for the first time that you can blow into the straw instead of sucking, to blow bubbles in the milk. So that was great fun, but annoying to me because she was making a mess, and not drinking so she would have to potty.
Finally when I was feeding her dinner before bed, she was standing in front of me, got a bite of mac and cheese, and without a word, turned around, walked over to and sat on the potty and peed. I was like holy shit! I was so excited and proud of her. So I definitely feel pretty good about today. I would say that is progress for sure. They say you can move on to block two once you can get her to the potty in time or she goes to the potty on her own....but I just want one more day to see if she has retained the knowledge of knowing when she needs to go.
Plus, despite things going well, I don't feel I really got a handle on recognizing her signs. Maybe I wasn't always paying enough attention, but for the most part she seemed to just start peeing with no warning. I mean yeah sometimes she would squat, or cross her legs, or grab herself, but mostly this happened periodically through out the day with no connection to her actually going. So if she indeed does not give off any signs, I really hope she is one of those miracle children that just knows very quickly when she has to go and just does it, or can tell me. Here's hoping tomorrow goes as well or even better.
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