Sunday, February 15, 2009

Kyra vs. The Potty: Round 1

Last week Kyra started showing signs that she might be ready to start potty training. On several occasions she would announce to me that she had just peed or pooped in her diaper and she needed to be changed. I began to get excited at the thought of saving money on diapers and decided that we would dedicate this weekend to potty training her. Of course I did have my concern, but after getting advice and encouragement from a few friends I was as ready as I was going to get so I sent Jim out to buy Pull Ups.

First thing Saturday morning we put Kyra in her new Pull Ups and started getting her on the potty every half hour. She was excited about the new experience and would happily sit on the potty. We read books and sang songs and played games and sometimes spent almost 30 minutes at a time just sitting in the bathroom waiting for a breakthrough. But as content as Kyra was to sit on her potty all weekend, she never got comfortable enough to actually go to the bathroom. We realized that as soon as we would put her Pull Ups back on her, she would go potty in them. And it was a little frustrating. For example, this morning Kyra came to me and said "potty" so we raced to the bathroom and I spent 25 minutes with her as she sat on her potty reading books. Finally she jumped up and grabbed her Pull Up and informed me (in her own way) that she was done. I put her in the underpants and then we walked upstairs to get her dressed. In the three minutes it took to get from the bathroom up the stairs, she wet her Pull Up.

I know this sort of thing doesn't happen overnight (or even over a weekend), but I decided that we're going to take a break and give Kyra a little more time. More than anything I don't want potty training to be a frustrating, discouraging experience for any of us so I'm just accepting the fact that the potty has won this round. Although, on a positive note, this weekend wasn't a total loss as Kyra discovered how much fun hand washing can be!

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