1 Mother 2 Another

We’ve had a week now with our new
potty training in place, and I can say this is the longest
we’ve gone with such forward progress.


After a disastrous weekend last week, in which Maddie pooped in
several pairs of panties and steadfastly refused to use the potty,
Brian and I hit on a new plan. Maddie now wears big-girl underpants
all the time, using the potty whenever she needs to. But any time
she feels the urge to poop, she tells one of us and gets to put on
a pair of pull-ups for the deed.

Maddie’s embraced this plan
wholeheartedly, and we’ve had one hundred percent success
with the pooping. She’ll shyly whisper to one of us that she
needs to go poopie, and we’ll dash for the bathroom.
We’ve got a few ground rules: Maddie has to poop in a
bathroom, and sitting on a potty, even though she’s wearing a
pull-up. And afterwards she has to help clean up. She’s
accepted these restrictions easily and we’re just relieved to
have our happy Maddie back.


We did have one peeing accident, though; Maddie got so involved in
a marathon “ballet performance” that, despite pleas
from every adult to take a crack at the potty, she held it in for
the sake of the show until she couldn’t any longer, and Swan
Lake got a little, um, fuller. After that incident, we had a new
rule: no big-girl panties unless Maddie tried to go pee any time an
adult told her to. So now we’ve got regular potty times
– first thing in the morning, lunch time, before nap, dinner
time, and bedtime – as well as whenever she feels nature
calling.


I think we’ve found the right balance here, and hope it works
for her. Our pediatrician’s suggested that the next step will
be to have Maddie not actually put the pull-up on, but simply lay
it in the training potty and poop on top of it. She thought Maddie
might be ready for that in a week or so, but at the rate
we’ve been potty-training, I’m hoping to hit that stage
by summer.


Just kidding.


A little.


So here’s me, cautiously optimistic. Maddie adores big-girl
panties and changes them several times a day, just for the fun of
it. We’ve got a continual fashion parade of fancy panties,
and several times we’ve had to restrain her from showing them
off (“Why can’t I show the priest my panties?”
not being the top of the list of things you want other parishioners
to overhear your child saying in church, sorry to everyone who
heard that) and restrict her fashion shows to the home.


We have, however, permitted her to share her good news, so
don’t be alarmed if a strange three-year-old comes up to you
and says triumphantly, “Guess what! I’m wearing Ariel
panties, and I haven’t peed in them at all.”


Just smile and congratulate her. That’s what we do.