Above All, Self Control

Yesterday was Bridget's first day of potty training. I bought her seven pairs of Elmo panties, a potty seat that fits on top of the normal seat, a stool for her to stand on, two ugly and cheap dresses, and Woolite pet stain remover.

The day started well. We played outside with Maggie (the dog) after a nice breakfast with plenty of juice.

Bridget enjoyed the freedom of movement the Elmo panties gave her versus a diaper. Hooray for the potty!

It took longer than I thought, but she finally peed while we were outside. She looked up at me with horror. What was happening?! The day was ruined! She sat on the potty and we read a book and sang all the songs. Then I put on her second pair of Elmo panties and we went back to the good life. This time we played at Clara's house and she peed on the sidewalk there. We used Clara's potty seat, then went home in shame. (Still no pee pee getting into the potty.)

I set up a pile of blankets I don't care about with Bridget's pillow for nap time. She stood on the wood floor for long enough to pee, but this time she told me she was peeing (progress!) so we rushed to the potty to sit for another ten minutes. Nothing went into the potty again.

After nap time, we went outside again - wearing Elmo panties number four. I took a few pictures of the house with my crazy huge daisies.
A train went by (it's about a quarter mile west of our house) and we could see it through a break in the houses. Bridget ran to me saying, "I hold you! I hold you!" So I held her and sat on the porch rocker. And she peed on my lap. This time the fifteen minutes on the potty was accompanied by a little song Bridget likes to call, "The train is scary." Those are the only words. It's a great song.

After that episode, Bridget got frustrated.
I let her help me cook (I made four dinners and froze three yesterday - hero party for me). She sat quietly for half an hour putting spaghetti noodles from a tablespoon to a plate, adding fake pepper every once in a while. After the half hour was up, I took her to the potty only to discover she had already gone. Even though it was towards the end of the day, I was getting nervous about running out of Elmo panties (this was pair number six - one left) and I had to use the second dress. I was also concerned that Bridget hadn't said anything about peeing the last two times. So I called my sister Melissa. She asked what I was going to do if Bridget did pee in the potty. I didn't know.

Melissa will be glad to know that I decided to have a bubble blowing party instead of giving Bridget a lot of candy. See, Bridget understands the concept of First This and Then That. I kept telling her she needed to pee in the potty first, then we would blow bubbles. Daddy came home from work and Bridget told him about the bubbles and begged him to put her on the potty. She spent most of the rest of the night sitting on the toilet, but nothing ever came out. Until she was off the potty. She caught herself and told us when it was happening, but it was never in time. I felt so bad for her that I was close to tears at the end of the day. She was trying so hard.

So, we tried potty training. It's just not for us. Glad that's over! (Ha! Just kidding, Mom.)