Pee Pee and Poop

So thanks to Stretch marks (I read a post about the potty whisper lady) and the McNulty Quads who have started Potty Boot Camp, I have been inspired to talk about the impossible task or potty training.

It took me a good year to potty train L and would not say that we have it completely down yet. But for all of you out there having trouble getting your little one potty trained, I feel for you.

Mr. B took L to "The Walmart" (said with all the country in me) and bought her a potty as well as a baby doll the size of her prior to the arrival of little S. He gave her the doll in the car on the way home. Mistake #1 in my book, but who is counting. The potty sat in the hall right outside the bathroom door for ever. Finally one day, I was using the bathroom, nine months pregnant, and not able to stop mid-stream and help her she decided she wanted to use her potty. So she managed to get her pants down and diaper off, sit on the potty and pee all over her self. I made a big deal of it, and she wanted nothing else to do with it.

S was born in April, and I was busy with a new baby and a 2 year old who screamed when I mentioned the word potty. I let the whole issue die. Then in October, I took S to the doctor for nasty diaper rash that would never go away or come right back. It was decided that she was allergic to disposable diapers which was breaking her skin down and then causing a yeast infection. TMI. So we had to try cloth diapers and see if it got any better. So once again, we headed to "The Walmart" for all the cloth diaper supplies I could find. At the time I did not know about the cloth diaper world that exists on the Internet. We went the old fashion route.
So we got the plastic covers and thanks to Gerber, they only make a few prints and put them on everything. So L had big girl panties and S had plastic pants in the same pattern. The next day after I got them washed and ready to go, L thought S was wearing her big girl panties. Therefore she wanted to wear big girl panties. I told her that she had to go potty first, and she walked right in there and went. I was in complete shock.

We went back to "The Walmart" and bought 21 pairs of big girl panties and the biggest bag of m&ms I could find. I tend to go a little over board. Months of accidents and frustration followed. We got to the point that I was setting my kitchen timer every ten minutes and making her go. It was at this point that I wanted to hit the next person who said, "But girls are so easy to potty train." Finally I gave up. I am talking completely gave up. She did not get to wear her big girl panties. I could care less if she sat in a wet diaper for hours. Low and behold this is the technique that worked. She started telling me she had to go and actually went. I am not saying we never have accidents, but pee pee accidents are few and far between. Poop is a whole other story, but there are medical issues that go with that.

So the moral to this story, Just give up. It is much easier.