Bye bye, panties...

Well, after 6 relatively successful potty training days (after the first day, we only had one daytime accident every day for the 5 following days), the 7th and 8th day were disasters and we're going to take a break. We really thought we were almost there after the 5th and 6th days, and then she shocked us and turned it around. I don't know if we will try again before Jack is born or wait until later this summer. It will likely depend on her desire to go on the potty, because we've learned that she can do it, but we cannot force/bribe her to do it.

The positives of the last week:
-She learned to ask to go to the potty when she needed to pee pee and poop, and got better and better with going the first time she sat on the potty (instead of sitting on the potty for multiple times before going, though she usually would make multiple trips to the bathroom before wanting to sit on the potty).
-She learned to wake up in the middle of the night or after her nap when she needed to go potty and would stand up in the crib and call for us (but wouldn't go on the potty and would have an accident in the crib and then call for us again... this was our first clue that it was going downhill)
-She learned to use the little potty that I kept in the car if we were out somewhere and she had to go. We had zero accidents while out of the house and we left the house at least once every day starting on day 2.
-She liked wearing panties and was proud of herself when she did go on the potty.

Then day 7 rolled around, and she peed on the potty until lunchtime, and then all of a sudden, she refused to sit on the potty and would hold it until she couldn't hold it any more. She had 4 accidents during the rest of the day, all in the bathroom because she would go in there and wouldn't get on the potty. She would ask to go to the bathroom multiple times before the accident happened but would refuse to get on the potty until she started peeing in her panties. This morning (day 8), I dropped her off at a childcare provider's house on my way to my class, and she had an accident there and then another one right after we got home. It was so sad to see her hold it and hold it and hold it until she couldn't hold it any more. Believe me, we tried as many bribes in the past 2 days as we could think of to get her to sit on the potty... new toys, M&Ms, coins for her piggy bank, etc. She is totally physically ready for it and it is very obvious that she understands her body's signs for both #1 and #2. Even after putting on a cloth diaper for the rest of the day today, she was still telling us when she needed to go potty and wanting to go to the bathroom (but not sitting on the potty) and then telling us when she actually did go potty in her diaper shortly afterwards. We're not sure if we went wrong somewhere or if her frustration and defiance would have happened anyway. The last two days were the most stressful parenting days that I have ever had (and this is even after being a single parent while Mike was deployed for 12 months!), and I am very relieved to put it aside for a while. Even when she was willingly going on the potty, I never felt like we could do our normal activities because she would only go potty if she had to go, not if we were about to leave the house. So, tomorrow we are going to go for a nice long walk to the park and enjoy the time together without making sure that we are near a bathroom.

On the positive side, Jack's furniture was delivered today and she had no problems with us putting her furniture in his room and the new furniture in her room. Since the new crib has a flat front, it is much easier for me to lay her down and I think I'll actually be able to continue doing it throughout the pregnancy, unless she decides that she is ready for a toddler bed before that. I'm fine either way. I am really pleased with the new furniture and will take some pictures soon. We won't be doing a ton of decorating in Jack's room until we move to Baltimore because the big sleigh crib is sandwiched in there with a queen bed and big dresser, but I plan to get a few shelves for the wall and paint some wooden letters for his name.

She just woke up and called for me because she needed to go pee pee. We went in the bathroom but she didn't want to sit on the potty so I put her back to bed. A few minutes later, she called for me again saying that she peed in her diaper and needed a new one. Hopefully she doesn't wake up and do this every time she pees in the middle of the night! I had to tell her many times today that it is okay to pee in a diaper since she was so conditioned to thinking that she couldn't pee in her panties. I'm going to try to make the cloth diapers work until she is ready for panties again. She's definitely growing out of them even though they are supposed to go up to 35 lbs and even told me today after her nap that "My diaper is too tight on my legs, Mommy." I don't want to go back to disposables because she won't be able to feel the wetness as easily and I don't want her to get too comfortable in diapers, so we will try to stick this out and maybe get a few bigger ones if necessary.

How's that for a cheerful Thursday? :)