No, not my job (I should be so lucky). It's this whole business of potty training. For those of you who don't remember, we started potty training Marianne in earnest in March. It's been nearly 3 months, and while we've made progress in some areas, in other areas, we're just as bad or worse off. At the beginning, Marianne wouldn't poo anywhere but in her pants. She'd hide in a corner or under the table to go. That has been the most dramatic change. Up until the past few days, she'd seldom had a poo-related accident in the past month or so. But we can't leave the house without a pull-up on because she's totally unreliable if there's much around to distract her, and recently she's gotten worse and worse about wetting herself. The most frustrating part is that it doesn't seem to bother her! She'll wander around in wet shorts for who knows how long and we only realize she's had an accident when we pick her up. Sometimes I'd swear she has a good sense of when she needs to use the potty, but other times she seems completely clueless. She'll go on the potty, then not five minutes later she'll go in her pants. She's significantly better at using the potty at daycare than she is at home, though she does have accidents there as well. Argh.
The truth is, I've been wanting to back off for a few weeks now. When I'd bring it up to Nathaniel, though, he'd say he didn't want to lose all the progress we've made, and we can't just go pack to diapers now... The little angel on my right shoulder agreed with him, but the little devil on the left thought that perhaps his attitude had a lot to do with the fact that he wasn't having to clean up after nearly as many accidents, and he's not the one folding the couple extra loads of laundry every week. Either way, when he mentioned last night that maybe we should try switching back to diapers and then trying again in a couple weeks, I jumped all over that idea. This morning, I had a little chat with Marianne about whether she'd like to try one more day to see if she could do a really great job of using the potty, or whether we should pack up the big girl pants and pull-ups and switch back to baby diapers for a while. The minute she heard "baby diapers" she all but danced with glee. That level of excitement makes me question things one more time - are we giving in and giving her what she wants when really she had the ability? Or are we doing the right thing because she's truly not ready, and this has been just as frustrating for her as for us.
Everyone says that when a kid is ready, she's ready, and you can't force the issue. Still, I feel like a bit of a loser. We tried so hard this time. I really think taking a break is the right thing to do, though. Last night Nathaniel said to me, "You can't prefer the idea of having to change her diapers all the time, can you?" The truth? YES! I can prefer that. I DO prefer that to mopping up puddles all over the house before Ruth toddles through them, and I DO prefer that to dealing with stinking soggy big-girl pants numerous times a day. Bring on the diapers. I'd love to have her out of them, but it's better than the mess and laundry I've been dealing with. And who knows, maybe she'll miss her mermaid underpants and be inspired to do a really good job of potty training before we know it. Or, given how excited Ruth is to sit on the training potty these days, maybe Marianne will be my second child potty trained. There's just no telling.
2 comments:
She's still pretty young, Staci.
Maybe a fresh start is what you all need in a couple months or so!
So sorry about the stress though.
I've been reading about it b/c some of the kids at M's daycare seem like they're starting around her age, and my thought is maybe Marianne's just not that into it yet. :)
It seems like it's really easy for some parents because their kids are super-interested, while it's a real struggle for others because their kids don't care that much. I think the key is that she has to be interested and care, and given the range of experiences I've heard of and been reading about that's tough to put on a schedule. Some kids were 3-3.5 before it mattered to them, while others were less than 2 (I don't have that child, for sure!). And frankly, I definitely prefer diaper changing to the thought of bed-changing, clothes-changing, car-seat-cover changing, and the forty-two other kinds of cleanup that will take place when we get around to starting TT with the bug. Hang in there, and someday before too long she'll be wearing those mermaid underpants with pride.
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