Potty Training Part 2

Day 1

Day 2

I got up the next morning, feeling slightly better and started right in (although, J woke up unusually early, which is never fun). I kept the timer at every 20 minutes. She was less enthused about it that day, so I let her put her undies on. I just opened up the washing machine and every time she got her undies wet, I'd throw them in there and do one normal sized wash that night. Putting her undies on really helped because then I could say, "Oh no! You got Elmo wet! Now you can't wear Elmo because he's wet!" It really helped her make a cause and effect connection between her peeing and getting the undies wet. This day lasted forever! These are the text between K and I that day.

I began to notice that she just wasn't having to go pee that much. We had some left over Pedialite in the fridge from when she was sick, so I began giving her that whenever she wanted. This helped increase the frequency of her going, which helped speed up the learning process. This was the night of my break down. It's so emotionally exhausting because you can't get mad at them, they're just learning and it's not their fault they don't know how yet. Plus, I wanted to keep everything very positive, truthfully, because I wanted her to be able to go poop on the potty. I've heard a lot of stories about kids going full weeks between bowel movements because they were terrified to go poop on the potty. In my head, I thought if I could keep it all very positive then that would help. Being overly positive and enthusiastic is VERY taxing! Maybe that says something about my personality, oh well!

That night, as I laid in bed starring at the ceiling, I thought, "There's no way I can get up and do this again tomorrow. I want to die! [so dramatic, but that's what mental/emotional exhaustion does to you] There's no way I can have another kid ever again if I have to do this with them every time! But I can't stop, if I stop I'll have to go through this first day all over again! I can only have 1 first day per child!" And then I prayed. So stupid. But I honestly prayed. I can't help but laugh hysterically just thinking about it! However, what I've learned several times in my life, if it's important to me, it's important to God.

Day 3 (+ night time and going in public)