Wednesday, April 9, 2014

Potty.Training.

If you were to ask me the one thing I dislike about parenting - it would be potty training.  And now that I am through the other side for the second time, I really don't have a good reason to dislike.  Both of my kids (fortunately) trained fast. But, the build up to it makes me crazy.  Harper was particularly stubborn about it. She had to make up her mind she was going to do it (much like she had to do with walking).  She told me "after Bubba's birthday party" she would.  So, we made a paper ring countdown and the Monday after the party we hit the ground running.
The first day was hard.  Much harder than it was with Hudson.  There were a whole lot of accidents and I was a little frazzled by it.  I started questioning whether or not she was ready, even though I knew she was.  Late in the day, it clicked:


And she FINALLY got the "sick baby" she had been dying for:


Day 2 was a snap. She knew what to do, told me when she needed to go, etc.  Day 3 (day 3!) we hit a major hiccup.  She suddenly got really, really scared of going again. Completely hysterical. I wasn't sure what to do, to be honest. I couldn't go back, we had come too far. But, I also couldn't have her freaking herself out beyond belief.  Mid-way through the afternoon, I put a step stool under her feet to steady her and escaped the bathroom for a minute.  And the minute I left, the hysteria stopped. Turned out, she just needed the step stool to feel secure. After that moment, the hysterics were over and she never looked back.

Baby girl, I am so very proud of you. I know what a big step this was for you and I am so proud of you for making that leap. I have learned in your 3 short years, you will succeed at anything, you just need the freedom to do it your way. :) 

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