Potty training update

Lily did so great for 2 weeks. Hardly no accidents and she was very excited. And then for the next two weeks she has had accidents left and right. It is like the newness wore off and she was done with it. She would be busy playing and just pee as she was running to the bathroom, leaving a little trail behind her which was pretty funny, but it got old in a hurry.

Someone told us to do cold showers after every accident. At first, she hated this and she would say "why mom?" It was sad. And then after two or three of those she looked forward to getting rinsed off. Someone else said to give a treat for the successes, she loved that, and wanted a treat every single time she went on the potty. And that wasn't going to happen. Someone else said to do time out. She doesn't mind that too much and she wasn't connecting it to accidents. Someone else said to put a potato (a whole potato) in a diaper and make her wear it if she has an accident. We tried this yesterday morning and she was so confused, but she hated it! She said it doesn't fit and where are my undies. We told her pee doesn't fit in her undies just like a potato doesn't fit in a diaper. And that she can't wear undies if she has accidents. We put the potato on the back of the toilet as a reminder and gave her back her undies. And low and behold she has told us every time she has to go potty. It has only been like two days but it seems to have worked. She sees the potato on the toilet and says "I don't want potato diaper." Such a strange suggestion. But my friend swore that it worked, and so far it has. We will see how long this technique lasts.

She still wears pullups or diapers to bed because she is such a deep sleeper that she doesn't wake up even if she is wet. I figure this might take a little longer with her, which is fine. For the most part she has done really well and she is so dang cute it is hard to find the right technique for accidents. Because she always says, "Sorry" and "I was playing" and "I don't know why." She is just so adorable.

But I have to say whoever says girls are easier to potty train than boys, they are wrong. It depends on the child, not the gender. Calvin had like one or two accidents. He hated being dirty so he did not want to wet his pants. He did not pee the bed ever. Maybe 3 or 4 times in the last year and a half. Lily is just more carefree and so she doesn't care as much. She is a few months younger than Calvin was though.

My thought for the day is: Parenting is an adventure. No technique will work for every child. Every child is different and exciting. And we love them all for their differences.