Turning the Corner, or Maybe Not

An Update on Potty Training

We have been trying for months and months to potty train Charlotte.  It's been a series of stops and starts, but mostly stops.  I guess it really is true that you can't force these things.  Until recently, Charlotte just wasn't interested in going.

When my mom was here before Phoebe was born, we worked on it a lot. My mom got her to go in the bathroom in my room at the hospital, but then the next day, it was like all the progress was eliminated and Charlotte had several accidents all in one day.

A month ago, we took Charlotte to KinderCare for a trial day.  We had already decided she'd be going there once I go back to work, but her daycare was closed the day after Easter, so we thought, why not try it out for a day?  The director told us that because Charlotte would be in the 3 year old class when she started, that it wouldn't make sense to have her in the 2 year old class for one day.  She asked where we were in the potty training stage, and we confessed that we weren't very far.  She told us to just bring a bunch of pairs of underwear and changes of clothes and they'd handle the accidents.  Well, when I picked Charlotte up that day, aside from being super happy to be there, Charlotte only had one accident the entire day (the first one of the day).  I was floored. And I was even more amazed that the teacher asked if she needed to go before we left, and Charlotte ran to the bathroom (which is conveniently right in the class) and pulled down her pants, went, and then washed her hands. 

However, things haven't been the same since. I'm sure that peer pressure had something to do with it, since all of the other kids are potty-trained, but our daycare lady hasn't been very consistent either.  This is frustrating because I can train all I want, but if it's not consistently applied the rest of the day, Charlotte will just know she can go in her Pull-Ups.

Ten days ago, Charlotte wanted to stay home, so I decided she'd only wear big girl underwear.  She had three accidents that day and only two successes.  It's super draining, especially with having to care for Phoebe, and Charlotte gets so ashamed when she has an accident.

Then, the past five days, Chris' parents have been here.  I decided with the extra bodies around, this would be the weekend.  From Wednesday until today, Charlotte has been in underwear the entire time, including to a friend's birthday party, and going out to two restaurants.  She seems to have the urinating down, but not the other one.  Instead, she'll hold it for days because she's worried about getting the potty messy, or whatever other pressure she's imposed upon herself.  Finally, on Friday, Chris' mom and I got Charlotte to go on the potty by doing this - we put the little potty in her tent  that our friend Nancy made for her (yes, Nancy, I'm sure you didn't expect it to be used for this purpose!), and I told her she could have her special time there.  Well, it worked!  We were all so incredibly excited for her.  Unfortunately, it hasn't happened again and we've had two other accidents, but I really hope we're turning the corner.

Any suggestions out there for a girl who has a mental block about pooping? I really don't know what to do to get her to understand that A) I'll handle the entire clean up (you know Chris won't do that), and B) it's way better than going in your pants.

And tomorrow, it's back to daycare - this time in big girl underwear!