Potty Training Hell

Oh crum.  I had this post saved in a draft and didn't realize it was saved for later publication. I wasn't planning on posting until we had complete success.  Oh well.

Back in May 2011

We've been potty-training.  For almost two weeks I hardly left the house.  Torturous.  She has had remarkable success IF she walks around 'bottomless'.  It certainly is something to be proud of, however, that behavior might throw a wrench in our social endeavors. And while she totally gets the idea of it - she's definitely not bought into the concept yet.

And for Gianna, I think it's more about the reward than it is about the milestone.  She is totally motivated purely by those little gummy treats.  She actually tries to 'make' herself urinate just to earn a little gummy treat.  One day she announced her potty success and invited me to "Come and see...and let's go get a treat."  The potty was dry and I said, "Gianna, there's nothing in your potty."  Her reply...

"Well, I know, but can I just have a gummy treat?"

We tried underwear, which she loves, but it must give her that familiar security she's used to and she doesn't want to bother with the removal of them.

Not long after she donned her first pair of Tinkerbell undies she told me,

"Oh wow....that sure is hot."

"What's hot, Gianna?"

"My teetee on my legs."

One step forward, two steps back.

We even had success in the #2 department.  The first day we wore ourselves jumping up and down for joy.  I've been horrified by people taking pictures of their kids' first poop in the potty. It was during the day and I'm ashamed to say I even took a picture - which I have edited for you all so as not to lose my loyal 7 readers.  Actually, I texted the unedited picture to Iain because I knew he'd never believe me.

Girl Interrupted

Then we went on vacation to Florida for a week and a half and really threw a wrench in our training efforts.  We started back up upon arrival home and then our house went under contract.  The goal was to re-start once we moved into our new house.  Well, that fell through...and then a week later Iain died.  Yeah, let's go ahead and add a grieving mom and pre-schooler to the mix.  That's added quite a bit of resistence.  She completely breaks down if I mention sitting on the potty to poop.  It's really quite pitiful. "I'm just a little kid!  I'm NOT big. I just can't DO this anymore."  Tell me about it!

I honestly couldn't give a flip if she's potty trained right now.  I love the convenience of it and not having to scope out decent bathrooms in every place we visit/shop/eat.  The problem comes into play that I'm struggling to keep my head above water these days and could really use a mother's day out once or twice a week.  I recently called our church with is right up the road and was so excited about their program.  As I was getting ready to hang up, I had the presence of mind to ask about their potty training policy.  "Oh - they definitely have to be potty trained."   I cried for an hour.
I decided that I'm going to start praying to Padre Pio for assistance in this area. 

No, he's not the patron saint of potty training (I'm pretty sure there's not one) but I chose him because of his initials.
(P.P. -- Ha!!)

M&M's and Skittles worked well at first (for #1)  and then candy corn came in to save the day.  At this point there are no prizes or charts that really entice her but guess what has caught her attention?  An invitation to Disneyworld once she's got dry panties for a month or so!  Okay, that's extreme, but desperate times call for desperate measures and I am planning on taking her in the spring anyway.  So, between Padre Pio and Mickey I'm looking for some serious results in the coming months.