It’s a Potty Miracle!!!!

I am proud to say that I have now experienced the most rewarding parenting moment to date…hearing the potty flush on the other side of the house and not having had a thing to do with it!

We have been working hard on this since the summer with several potty boot camps where we went straight to big girl panties and would tough it out for a weekend. Our strong willed child never fell for these. She’d start out cooperating, but eventually, no amount of gifts from the diaper fairy or reward or punishment would get her to participate. We’d end the weekend all more frustrated than we began.

Over the last few weeks, we’ve (by ‘we,’ I mean ‘John’) started showing some tough love and making her sit on the potty at bed or bathtime and not letting her get up until she made a contribution. A week before we went to NOLA, she finally started listening and begrudgingly cooperating. While we were there, she began asking me/ telling me when she needed to go (although on the road trip, we were still in diapers).

On Wednesday, Nov 7th (the week after our trip), the miracle started. Since I was off work that day, I sat her on the potty in the morning and told her we weren’t going anywhere until she went to the potty. We ended up missing our moms’ group Bible study due to the stand-off, but she eventually gave in. After that, I put on a pull-up and told her she HAD to tell me when she needed to tee tee, and we stayed in for the rest of the day. I’d ask her throughout the day if she needed to go, but she soon started telling me when she had to go. While she fussed about going to the potty half the time, she had no wet diapers during day. For what it’s worth, I think she was comforted by wearing the pull-ups rather than the big girl panties and seemed to be more content to tell me when she needed to go when wearing them. Also, after all the gadgets we’d bought to make it easier, she wanted to sit on the big potty with no steps, toddler seat, etc.

By the next day, Thursday, at Grandma’s, she was taking herself to the bathroom when she needed to go and had no accidents.

On Friday morning, I was back in my bathroom and heard water flush somewhere in the house. The dishwasher was running, so I blamed it on that until HG ran into my bathroom screaming, “I went potty by myself!!!” I about had a heart attack! Later that morning, we met Callum and family to play at Sega Gym, to see the trains on the Collierville square, and to eat at Chick-fil-A. She went for first time in public (four times) with just one accident when she got distracted playing at Chick-fil-A (although she did come running to tell me).

On Saturday, we had another big development that we’d been waiting on…#2 all on her own. That’s all I say about that, but we sure did a big ole happy dance!!

Ever since that first Wednesday, she’s never looked back. We are all so proud and shocked. I still almost cry every time, and she’s started tell me, “Mama, don’t be proud. Don’t get excited. Mama, don’t run- we can walk.” And I’m even getting shoved out of the bathroom!

We are still in pull-ups for the time being, but she has only had two or three accidents that I can think of, including nap and nighttime. She’ll usually wake me up at night if she needs to go, and lately, she’s even sleeping all night and waking up dry. We’ve started talking about switching to big girl panties because I know she can do it- I just have to let her think it’s her idea. I’ve been told by Grandma that another little boy we all know and love well was really set on knowing he could do things completely and exceptionally before he tried to do them at all (talking, walking, etc.). I believe the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree!