What's that, reader?
You wanted to read an inspiring post on something creative and wonderful?
Perhaps a recipe filled with butter and cinnamon?
Alas, that day shall come. But today is not it. Because as I sit to type this, at the end of a grueling day, I lack that super-Mom energy it takes to be creative in the trenches. At least for the moment.
The day began with promise. I awoke to beautiful sunshine and a full french press of coffee, courtesy of my loving husband. We spent a few minutes sharing in conversation before the wee one woke up and requested her morning milk and cartoon. It was still shaping up to be a deliciously sweet day as shared a breakfast of scrambled eggs, bananas and peanut butter, and toast – I love family breakfast time.
In my mind, I was already mentally preparing for mine and Georgia's day at home. You see, today was epic. Today was the day. The day we began potty training.
I hadn't really thought Georgia was ready to begin until about a month ago, when she began telling me “poop” every time she went to the bathroom in her diaper. It's actually pretty cute, because she elongates the ‘oop' sound….so it's more like “pooooop”. It's not cute, however, when you're at an elder's house for dinner and in the middle of prayer she decides to loudly start announcing to the dinner table that she's just done her business.
Alas, I figured the baby will be on his or her way in a few months, so why the heck no try and get this battle down before I'm nursing 12 hours a day again.
At seven thirty, we began. The drinking of kombucha. The running around with no diaper on. The M&M treats for staying dry. The doll that pretended to drink and use the toilet. We sang songs on the toilet. We watched Kipper on the toilet. We hung out in that bathroom all morning. Every ten minutes we were on that potty….
…and y'all, it was a disaster.
In Georgia's defense, she did pretty good. She sat as commanded. She proudly checked herself for dryness and helped me flush the toilet after the doll ‘used it' and helped me wash her hands. But by 10:00 I was absolutely spent. There was 0% energy left in my reserve.
I'm going to blame this on the following factors, because I like to make excuses:
1. I'm pregnant and everything is getting harder for me physically. Including man-handling a toddler, sitting on the bathroom floor, and chasing around a naked baby.
2. I'm hormonal and on an emotional roller coaster. Be it from the move, the pregnancy, the stresses of motherhood – who knows. I'll claim them all. But girlfriend is a little unstable these days.
3. I didn't have enough sugar this morning. And while this may sound ridiculous, I've found that on mornings where I don't eat enough sugar (ie: granola, lots of fruit, jam, etc.) I completely plummet around 9:30 when my blood sugar gets too low. I blame this on my mother, who also has low blood sugar problems. Thanks, Mom.
4. By 9:45, Georgia had had two accidents on the floor, one of which resulted in her running away from me, slipping in the potty, and hitting her head on a table.
Sometimes, you just gotta know when to call it. Unfortunately, our rough day didn't stop there.
I've since been blessed by many encouraging words from Mothers who have all been through this very trench. And after shedding a few tears and feeling bad about my failure to be patient with my child, I realized being so hard on myself just isn't worth it.
Take a deep breath now, Shaye. Keep perspective. Keep cool.
Who cares if she's not potty trained in a day. In a week. In a month.
Eventually, at some point in her life, she's bound to quit pooping in her diapers. And at that point, whenever it may be, you can consider this task a success.
It can be such a challenge as a Mother, keeping patient and loving when you really want to rip your hair out. (Come on now, don't leave me hanging, I know I'm not the only one…) There are good days. There are bad days. And there are really bad days.
There are some days when I have the emotional strength, grace, and energy it takes to be patient and loving all day long.
And then there are days when I send Stu a #911 text and contemplate how in the world I am ever going to manage enough patience and grace for soon-to-be two little ones.
I'll let you guess which one today was.
Regardless, I am thankful that the Lord's grace begins anew every morning. Tomorrow is a new day and a fresh start. I'm going to shower. I'm going to pray. I'm going to snuggle my husband. I'm going to pray some more. And then I'm going to eat some chocolate.
Sometimes, you gotta be thankful a day is only 24 hours.
Every mother out there can feel your pain. We used the Pottywise system w/our oldest and plan to do it again w/the boy. I’m already preparing myself for a challenge there…..anyhow….I waited longer to start potty training w/my daughter. I really think it helped. She was 2 & 1/2. Oh, and I have often sent my husband the 911 text. Sometimes I even call and cry until he comes home. Yup. Praying you have a better day today.
Sweet Thing, please know you are not the only one. Even though my children are your age and older, I still vividly recall the attempts to train our first one. I was young, on the other side of the globe (my husband was in the Army), and I was pregnant with my second baby. By the end of the first day, I was sitting on the floor beside the potty chair, crying with him. I put it away, decided to wait until the baby was here, and did just that. Lo and behold, after the baby was born and things had settled down, he was ready, and so was I, and he was trained in just a few days. It didn’t hurt anybody to wait, but it sure helped us both! Give yourself a break and wait a little while, and I think you will be glad you did.
My mom potty trained me and my sisters in different ways that fit our personalities. For me, she put the training potty in the living room in the morning and I would start the day with Mr. Rogers and my dolly on her potty beside me (a tissue box that had been modified into what resembled a potty). My mom found that once I got the hang of sitting and relaxing on the pot in the mornings it was just a short while before the potty moved to the bathroom and I would use it any time of day.
Hugs …. sorry you had a rough day! Hang in there!
I did not have girls, but potty trained all three of my boys the way my mother potty trained me. I always started after their 2nd summer. I took them to the bathroom every 20 minutes and never scolded an accident. The first week you are trained the next week they are trained. Two of mine would get themselves up in the night to go. I always used some sort of protection for them in the night until they got older. Remember that your older child may revert after you have the new baby. All of mine had accidents after the babies were born. I hope this helps. I know all children are not alike since I was potty trained before I was one. But the ladies I have shared this with have had good luck. Kris
Aww I feel for you! My son is 2 1/2 and has no interest yet in going on the potty so I am not going to push it. I was so worried when my older son was 2 1/2 also and wanted nothing to do with the potty, so I just waited for him and 1 week before his 3rd birthday he was ready. He only ever had maybe 4 to 5 accidents. I’ve always heard boys take longer then girls too. So with my 2 1/2 yr old now I am just going to wait until he’s interested. Your doing a great job and we all have those 911 calls to our hubbys every now and again 😉 Its part of being a stay at home momma hahaha!
Kris- Who is potty trained before they are 1??!! You sound like one of those people who claim their kids walk at 6 months too….
My MIL had a baby potty trained before one…and she had one that was four when he was potty trained. (my husband, LOL!)
Just set potty training aside for a day you are feeling more up to it. 🙂 It is better to admit it needs to wait for another day than to push through it and make it downright awful for everyone involved! I hope things go better for you! I have blood sugar issues, too, and they are a pain to deal with. They can send you from happy to tears in a very short period of time- especially when you are pregnant.
I love reading your blog. You are so real and honest. It’s SO refreshing. And you always make my laugh, because you describe scenes that happen to me all the time. Praying for you and this pregnancy! I know it can be just so stressful and hard especially in such a new environment.
Lol, it’s nice to see I wasn’t the only one that had a bad day. I thought my twin 2 year olds were trained but they desided to test me on a PMS day:( so I cleaned up poop today with a foot in it, a pee puddle in the kitchen I almost biffed it in. Ohh and the dog couldn’t leave me any spare time she desided to barf on the floor, thank God it was the kitchen. So I get the whole running low on patients when your tired and crabby, I always feel guilty later when I take out my hormones on them. Poor babies:(
Ahhh,..I’m sending stranger/blog-stalker hugs your way!! My mantra was always “They won’t go to college….(fill in the blank-‘in diapers, with a binky, picking their nose, running around naked [well, let’s hope not on that last one]) So far we’ve got most of those down…and they’re 16, 12 and 8!! They also have all wet the bed until they were in 3rd or 4th grade (the youngest still does). Now the worries seem more complex and exhausting in a different way, BUT-they all use the potty and so will Georgia in time. Hang in there!!!