I hate to even talk about potty training, for fear that Miss Independent will backslide, but it’s been such a huge part of our lives the past couple of weeks! I posted about our first official week HERE if you want to catch up and see how we’re trying to tackle this beast!
We had a rough patch again on Wednesday of last week and when I say rough, I mean REALLY rough. Of course it had to happen the day after we just rewarded her for getting 10 stickers by purchasing a Strawberry Shortcake Mini Doll. By the end of the day, she had peed in her panties 9 different times all.over.the.house! Needless to say, we were both done! My nerves were shot and I was not happy about how I allowed her behavior to frustrate me….I’m a better Mommy than that?!! So much for staying positive!
After her bedtime, I went out to run some errands and just prayed to God for some wisdom. I knew in my heart that Savannah knew how to use the potty at this point but was choosing not to do it for whatever reason.
Power struggle?
Was I missing her signs? I thought we were past that point?
Or was she too busy playing and just forget to tell me when she need to go?
While driving, I gave it up to God in prayer and asked Him to show me what to do. As I was driving, I jammed out to some wonderful worship songs and felt like a huge weight was lifted!
She looks like a ragamuffin in this picture, but she LOVES taking her Strawberry Shortcake doll wherever we go!
After my first stop, I felt the Lord encouraging me to keep doing what we were doing — the concepts made total sense to me and seemed to have worked by the end of the first week — but to tweak how I was implementing them a little. Things like using phrases, “Savannah, Let Mommy know when you are ready to use the potty. Remember, we want to keep your panties dry all day!” rather than saying, “Savannah, tell Mommy when you need to use the potty, okay?”
I also felt like we needed to change up some of the rewards so I purchased different types of stickers and candy, as well as some small toys to use when she stayed dry all day long with no accidents! We needed to change the rewards up just a bit. On my way home, I had a renewed determination to keep at this thing! I talked it over with Kevin and he was on board, so we started anew on Thursday morning last week.
I’m hesitant to even say it, but since then I am so pleased with how Savannah is doing! This doesn’t mean we haven’t had any accidents, but they are usually limited to 1 per day. And when she has them, they are usually in the bathroom. I can live with that!
I’m also seeing her take more initiative with telling me when she has to go. When I see her showing signs that she needs to go, I tell her to let me know when she is ready to go and most of the time she will eventually initiate. I’ve learned that pushing her to go does not work at all!
This potty training process has been exhausting, but she is getting there! If what they say about potty training little boys is true, then we are in real trouble with Brady! I just may have to pay someone else to do it!!
