Panties

This one's comin' first for Jennifer's sake...


Well, there's a new member of our household that's wearing panties these-days...nope, it's not Jeremy...it's Margaret!


So I'm a pretty strategic thinker...and when things do not go just like I've mapped them out...it can be a little bit frustrating sometimes. It really depends on what it is. For instance, maybe I've plotted how we're going to drive somewhere but Jeremy takes a different route. Fine. Probably not a big deal. Or maybe I was going to purchase animal crackers at Wal-Mart while grocery shopping but the only kind they carry are processed in a factory that has peanuts. Okay. I'll make a separate stop later this week. Not too life-altering. BUT, when I have planned out in my brain that my almost-three-year-old will be potty-trained before her baby brother comes and it DOESN'T happen. UGH. That's not "fine" or "okay." That's frustrating. I had to let it go, though, because Margaret was sooooooo not even interested in the potty during the months of January through March when I made my small first attepmts.

So April came and went and a new brother came to our house and I had TWO children in diapers. That's not what I had planned.

May began and Margaret's school started the potty-training process. She'd wear panties all day at school and every 20 minutes they'd make her go sit on the potty. Some of the other kids picked it up lightening fast and were saying, "Bye-bye" to those diapers. I am sure their parents felt like they had gotten a raise in these "tough economic times." Diapers are costly. However, my stubborn daughter chose to hold her pee and let it all come out TWICE A DAY: 1) at nap time when they put a diaper on her and 2) when we put a diaper on her for bedtime. She'd flood those diapers when she'd finally let her peepee out. It was amazing. In fact, one weekend as Jeremy and I were trying to keep up with the school routine at home...Margaret held her peepee for so long that we had to take her to the Cook Children's Emergency Clinic. And you know what they wanted her to do there? Pee in a cup! (Literally, Nana sat on the bathroom floor with her and prayed for God to help the peepees to come out!...It eventually did...).

Anyway...all that to say, we really thought, "She's just not ready."

Here are all the things we tried:
Incentives: enticing toys laid out for her to see as rewards for peepee in the potty
Long Potty Time: We'd all sit around the potty as a family and sing and read books in hopes that some would magically come out while we were there.
Only Panties: She'd only be allowed to wear panties for the whole...so she'd just pee her pants.
Praying: We'd sit on the potty and pray that God would help the peepees to come out.
Videos: We watched a potty-training video with her that showed other kids peepeeing. She thought they were cool...but still no peepees.
Mouse House: We promised a trip to Chuck E. Cheese if she poopooed in the potty.


Exhausting, right?


So what worked? Leaving her alone! We put her on the potty one night and left the room. She cried for 30 minutes...and then it went silent. I peeked around the corner to find Margaret staring in-between her legs with a HUGE surprised look on her face--SHE PEED IN THE POTTY. After that...she gradually worked her way to "no tears"...and within about four days she only was wearing panties and no accidents. Bliss.


The poopoo came a day or so later...and the whole family met for a poopoo party at Chuck E. Cheese!


We've been accident free since then...and lovin' that no-diaper feel.

Moral of the story: If at first you don't succeed, leave the kid alone to pee!!