Thursday, November 13, 2008

To pee or not to pee

This week is midterm week in my two classes. My brain is full of words like collusion, anti-trust, mergers, and expectation-performance gaps. It’s taking up valuable brain space and I’m having a difficult time transitioning back to normal words. Forgive me.

So, after our last potty training catastrophe, I gave it a little break. I told Kate that they no longer made big M&M’s, they only made mini-M&M’s, and then suddenly they just stopped making them at all. It sort of solved that problem. We just need to avoid the candy aisle for the next ten years. Also, a couple of weeks ago, she really wanted to go into the three-year old Sunday School room at church. I told her that was only for kids who didn’t wear diapers. End of discussion. She really wants to be in that room. She found her own motivation, uninfluenced by me.

So, last Friday she just decided she was ready to potty train. She started using the potty, asks every time, hasn’t had an accident since, and has stayed dry every night. I am NOT kidding you. The optimist in me is totally giddy and thankful it was so easy. (Beth, please don’t hurt me.) The realist in me understands how this all played out. Kate very adamantly showed us she would do what she wanted, when she wanted, in her own darn time, thankyouverymuch. I'm not a fortune teller, but I think this means really big problems for the next 18 years.

The one problem I’ve encountered with having a potty trained toddler is the archenemy, the public toilet. Kate doesn’t like public toilets because THEY DON’T HAVE A LID, THEY DON’T HAVE A LID MOM. Poor kid doesn’t realize the lack of a lid is the least worry to have about a public toilet. Also, do you realize how difficult it is to sit a tiny toddler on a public toilet? You know, with that big gaping hole in the front? If there isn't a product on the market to combat this, someone better get on that, STAT! It is impossible to conquer without one, or both of you, touching some part of the toilet. That is something I’ve spent my adult life avoiding contact with.

15 comments:

Anonymous said...

Not to mention the inevitable - touching the toilet seat or having their legs touch the dried pee/pube catcher of that gaping hole. I dont care how nice a bathroom is - its got some pee on the seat somewhere. Piper had no accidents yesterday while at home, we put a diaper on her at night just incase.

Jenners said...

In this respect, I am glad to have a boy. At least he can stand up to pee and doesn't have (much) contact with the toilet. As you found, the key to toilet training is that the child will decide when to do it and that is it. There is no forcing them. They aren't dumb...they are just crafty.

My son had no problem going pee, but pooping on the potty was a whole different matter. I tried everything and absolutely nothing worked and then, one magic day, he just decided to do it. We have never looked back since. (But perhaps I should mention that my husband had to build a contraption out of PVC pipe that looked like a hurdle so he could hold onto it while sitting on the toilet. Turns out, he was afraid of falling in and getting flushed down the toilet. Once he got his "holding on" thing, he did OK. Thank God he was able to give that up after a few weeks--I couldn't imagine dragging this PVC pipe contraption with me everywhere in case he had to poop in public!)

Amy said...

Carry sticky notes to put over the sensors for the automatic flusher. Good luck. So glad I have a boy.

The Tildy Spot said...

My best friend will be going through this soon with her daughter. Your post made me do a quick search. I hope you find this useful! http://www.mypreciouskid.com/potty-seat.html

Lia Pearson said...

oh lordy you are in for it Lyndsay, lol. Lorelai's been potty trained for several months now (she too just decided that she was ready one day. I never pushed it) but it is WAY more work than when they're in diapers. They freakin pee like 25 times a day! and of course I have to accompany her every time. and public bathrooms are the worst! they do make a little travel potty that folds up to keep in a diaper bag or big purse. we got ours at babies r us - http://www.toysrus.com/product/index.jsp?productId=2328521 -

good luck!!

Special K said...

Sylvie will sit sideways on the toilet. I keep one hand on her back.

And we have a teeny tiny Bjorn potty, it's like $10 and it fits under a stroller. We bring that in the car and such a LOT. Even Logan fits on it still. At least she's not afraid of the flush, that's the worst!

Special K said...

Oh and I agree with Lia. She has been potty trained for 6 months now, and she is just finally getting out of the "pee every hour" stage!

justsomethoughts... said...

i guess that makes me thankful to be a guy... i take the boys to the boy's room. my wife takes our daughter to the goil's room. and i dont have to deal with germ-incrusted seats and the like. if its anything that requires sitting for, houston, we have a problem...

Paula said...

My son is still in the "ocassional accident" stage. He won't stand to pee unless he is out in the back yard. His favorite thing is to hide in the corner, strip down then mark his "territory" like the dog. He has peed on every fence post on our half acre!! Lucky for me we live in the country with no real view of our neighbors. When we are out and about and I get that "mommy, pee pee coming!" signal, I panic. My almost 2 yrs daughter, son and I hike to the bathroom, I wrestle her into a clean corner(frown at the no carts allowed in the restrooms sign) while I try to get my son into position. As for dirty potty's, I have a little bag of wipes in my purse and clean the heck out of the seat before I set him down. At least I get my workout for the day.

C. Beth said...

Yaaay, congrats, Kate! We are still dealing with her not wanting to poop. She is pooping daily but only with crying, an insane poopy dance combined with speaking in an unknown language--and then she's pooping in a Pull-Up, not the potty. I am relieved we're back to daily pooping, and when it becomes a less traumatic event for her we can talk more about the potty again. She still pees in the potty...but is taking advantage of her Pull-Up when she doesn't feel like peeing. I'd like to switch back to panties since she was doing so well not peeing in those very often...but pooping in panties is extra-traumatic for her (and ME) so we're doing Pull-Ups most of the time now.

I do think it's great though of course my eyes have turned green too. :) I will say that I'm lucky; Ana likes sitting on "real" toilets without an extra toilet seat, so public toilets are no big deal at all.

On another note...this is the second comment in a row for which my Word Verification word has been a REAL WORD! Last time it was "login" and this time, "spear."

Everyday Goddess said...

You have entered the big wide potty world. Welcome!

My daughter is seven and a half now and we used the Post Its over the sensor in a public restroom. The fold up potty seat cover was a truly miraculous invention, and like Post It notes I wish I had
invented and patented it.

One more thing, once my daughter discovered the potty, she had to see the potty everywhere we went. Yes, everywhere.

She was expert on decor, lighting and often embarassingly, aromas.

She also was fond of chatting with me while she was on the potty and I was standing in the stall with her. For a long time. While our dinner was getting cold. And the waiters were wondering if we had skipped out on the bill. Ah motherhood!

Princess T said...

Isn't there something you can put over the toilet seat to make it easier for the toddler to sit on? There should be. Although, would you want to be carrying it around with you everywhere? It's like a catch-22

Caroline said...

I remember vividly my grandmother stressing the importance of the hover technique in public restrooms.

Soooo glad she got it!! Congrats!

nikkidreamer said...

I pay my daughter 5 pennies for a successful poop in the potty. i didn't want the candy problem and this way she can start saving for college now. I bought her a new piggy bank when I started the pennies for poopies program. we covered up the furniture and i stayed home most of 2 weeks with her, she was wearing a dress with no bottoms on because we had trouble with underwear at first, where she still felt comfortable with it catching her messies. but bottomless and the pennies, she was trained in just a couple weeks.
My son was a little harder, but mostly learned by deprivation. I refused to grant his requests for snacks, drinks, videos etc unless he did his business. he took a few weeks.
I also dread the public potty scene. And thats even just for myself! It's like a Monk Scream scene when I have to take the kids.

Hippoleetoe said...

lol. Good luck with school!!

Thats soo cute... hope all goes well with the potty training...

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