I thought Maggie was really hard to potty train. At 2.5, it seemed like every time I thought she was ready, she’d pee in her pants. And then when I was just about to give up, she would tell me she needed to go, and use the bathroom like a champ. After weeks of pulling my hair out, I read about Naked Butt Potty Boot Camp. After 2 days of running around the house naked, and then in a dress with no underwear, she was potty trained.
Sure, we had some setbacks. But looking at them now, I know that there was one period of confusion because I put her in pull ups at night when she didn’t need them, and then because she was not wiping well. But overall, it was smooth sailing, and I thought this was how average potty training went.
Of course, Katie is making me see things a little differenty. When she was 18 months old, she decided she didn’t like pooping in her diaper anymore. I heard a choir of angels singing. And she was good at it. By the end of the summer, I hadn’t had to change a single poopy diaper, and Maggie and Katie were having high five parties over the potty.
The next summer, she moved started to include peeing in the “things I don’t like to do in my diaper” category, and I rejoiced again. She was leading the charge, and things were good. Having a big sister’s footsteps to follow in seemed to blaze a clear and well lit path for Katie. Night time was different, but that was ok. Katie is a deep sleeper in way that Maggie, who went a full three years before sleeping through the night, simply does not.
I declared her potty trained sometime around her third birthday. For 6 months or so, all was well. But then, she started having accidents. Daily accidents. Sometimes more than one a day. I think our record was 5, but I’m not sure– I tend to block things like that out. She has good stretches, too, where she’ll go a week or two without a single accident. This school year, I told her that she could only wear a dress if she kept her pants dry the day before. It worked, and after a week, she wore dresses every day for almost a month. But then things fell apart. Once again, we’re back to the daily accident or more.
I’ve ignored. I’ve put Christmas clothes in the category with dresses. I’ve pleaded, I’ve begged, I’ve threatened. I’ve remained calm and simply requested that she put her dirty clothes into the laundry. I’ve given time outs. I’ve rescinded playdates. I’ve asked if it hurt and suggested the doctor. And then she tells me she doesn’t feel that she has to go.
90% of me is able to ignore this as an excuse from an almost 5 year old. It sounds good and I have no real way of arguing with it. But then the other 10% remembers the series of bladder infections when she was 6 months old, the fevers that just wouldn’t go away followed by the antibiotics, the kidney ultrasound and finally the fun day when they put dye in her kidneys through a catheter and tried to see if there was anything really wrong in there. And I wonder if something from all that could be contributing to these accidents. Because what fun would it be if I didn’t have a really big stick to beat myself in the head with?
So now I’ve laid out my final threat: If she pees in her pants again this month, she’s going to the doctor to get checked out. So far, so good.
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