Potty Training at 21 Months (Day 3)

More honesty, I didn’t have high hopes for day 3. I expected most of the same. Plus I had a rough personal night resulting in basically no sleep so that didn’t help at all. When I woke up at 7am to Palmer moving around in her bed, I was dreading starting the day. It was like waking up with a bad hangover. All I could think is, can we try this again tomorrow?

Day 3: Friday

Like I sort of explained above, we sort of had a lot of things working against us. Mainly my shitty attitude. I put it aside as much as possible as I groggily greeted Palmer in the morning. She was kind of cranky too. I gave her a big hug and took her into the bathroom to go pee. Again, it didn’t take long before she went on the potty. It also fell on one of her reward markers so she got a prize! I bought some random flashcards last Christmas and just gave her some of those. She was super excited about it. We spent the next little bit looking at the cards until she decided to rip them up. End of game.

I can tell she’s going longer between potty times so that’s good. Maybe she’s learning to hold it? I have been focused on trying to learn these non-verbal cues and catching them super early on. All morning I whisked her off to the potty the moment I noticed them but nothing would happen. I think maybe my whisking was kind of scary and a little too “aggressive” in a way.

We spend a lot of time in the bathroom. This is partially because I’m so pregnant and have to bring her with me every time. Every time I go, I see it as an opportunity to talk to her about having to go. She was playing in the bath with a bath crayon and I could tell she needed to poop. Picking at her butt again. She had her back to me and I could tell something was happening and suddenly, a saw a small point forming in back. Oh no!! I picked her up and held her over the potty as I slowly rolled down her undies, allowing the yuckies to fall into the potty (as the book recommends). She finishes in the potty and it’s basically nothing in her undies so I consider this a semi-accident. Lots of praise! She picks out a Daisy sticker to celebrate. We follow our routine of counting the poops, wiping, washing hands and saying goodbye. It was kind of a big poop. Gross.

As the late morning progressed, I continued to try and catch on to her cues. She would get upset every time I would bring her to the bathroom and set her on the potty. She refused to go. Clearly this was ineffective.

It was getting later and later and naptime had passed by. Potty training had completely thrown off our schedule and not only was she getting frustrated by the process (so was I), she was overly tired and refusing to nap. I tried putting her down several times but it wasn’t working. This hunger business is out of control. She wants chips all day long. I need to figure out a solution for foods that keep her full longer than 30 seconds. Chips are not the answer. She cries in bed, “Chips, Chips”. I tried taking her to the bathroom at least 10 times. It’s after noon (her first nap is usually around 10:30) and the accident I had been waiting for finally occurred in her crib. Angry pee. That’s what it was…

She legit just wants to snuggle right now. Thankfully that doesn’t include peeing on me. We try to go a couple more times but she refuses. Surprise. After rocking and snuggling and a whole lot of love and patience, I finally get her down at 2. Thank heaven. She sleeps for more than 2 hours.

Up from her nap, still doesn’t want to pee. I don’t push it. We go and watch Mickey Mouse. More snuggles. Erin gets home and tries to get her to pee. Not interested. More time passes by and Erin is finally able to get her to go. It was a lot of pee. She is genuinely excited. We celebrate. She celebrates. She acknowledges that she’s a big girl. I feel we have reached our turning point. Yay!

Nighttime routine begins. She doesn’t want to pee. What am I doing wrong?? She’s starving again. We hang out and follow her every time she gets up hoping that she’s making the decision to go potty. Instead she just goes in there to mess around. Serious child… please.

It’s like I’m on a crazy carousel that never ends. We try over and over to get her to go. I catch the normal cue, take her to the potty. She decides she wants to climb on the regular potty and ends up peeing everywhere. Uh oh.

Bedtime goal is 2 pees before sleep. By 9pm (normal bedtime 7:30), we’ve accepted this is not going to happen tonight. We ultimately give up and try and put her to bed. With only one nap, she’s exhausted. By 9:20, she’s asleep and I’m reviewing all what has happened throughout the day.

Erin mentioned earlier in the night maybe she’s just not ready. I think maybe we are giving up to easy. We have to give her a fair shot to get it right. This is why we decided to do it when we didn’t have to go anywhere. No appointments, no parties, nothing. We have to see this thing through. Even though it hasn’t clicked yet, I know we will get there eventually. I don’t have a Plan B at this point. It’s basically thrive or spend the next few weeks covered in piss. I’m choosing thrive.

Palmer gets rewarded for hitting achievements through the process so I decided a mani/pedi for myself is in order as soon as it clicks. It’s seriously the least I can do to make myself feel a little whole again and with only a few weeks until d-day, I know I won’t be able to get one for awhile.

My plan of attack moving forward into Day 4 of Potty Training hell is to reread the materials and try and find some inner strength. We can do this.