1 Mother 2 Another

Before you get excited by that title, get
out the noisemakers and balloons, and throw me a cyber-potty party,
let me explain. What I mean by “no potty training” is
that there’s no potty, no training. At all.


About two weeks ago Maddie woke up one morning and, as had become
her custom, went to go potty. She sat on the training potty for a
few minutes, half-awake, and decided she didn’t need to go
after all. At which time she stood up and peed all over the
floor.

During this moment I was in the kitchen
getting breakfast, and only knew something was wrong when I heard
Maddie crying. I ran to the door and heard her sob, “Mommy, I
peed all over the floor!” We got it cleaned up, got her
freshened up and dressed, and sat down to eat breakfast.


“Maddie, do you want to talk about what happened in the
bathroom?” I asked as we ate our Cheerios. This was the first
time Maddie’d peed anywhere but the potty, and she was very
quiet. “Mommy, I peed on the floor and I’m really
embarrassed,” she said. “I can understand that,
sweetheart, but it’s ok. Everyone has accidents, you know.
That’s why we practice. But it’s no big deal!” I
tried to cheer her up.


And then Maddie uttered her seal on the potty training tomb:
“I’m too embarrassed that I peed on the floor. Using
the potty made me pee on the floor, so I’m never going to pee
in the potty again.”


And she hasn’t.


Yep, she instantaneously shut down weeks of successful potty use,
and hasn’t looked back. Maddie steadfastly refuses to use the
potty now and deliberately uses her diaper, and has reiterated her
sworn oath of potty boycottying several times.


I’ve tried reminding her of the great treats waiting for her.
I’ve bought new treats. But chocolate does not entice my
child back into the potty saddle.


For now we’re keeping quiet and letting her take her time;
the last thing I want is to force the issue and make this whole
potty training ordeal even more drawn-out than it already is. I can
picture the potty training months taking a good year of therapy in
my child’s adult life, and I’m loath to add even more
to it. I’ve simply told Maddie that I’m not going to
force her into anything, and we’ll go back to diapers for
now. When she’s ready to start trying again, we’ll
bring back out the pull-ups.


Sigh.