Giving the potty a real try.

We had been waiting for the opportunity to meet with Ms. L, Ms. M and Director D to discuss a concrete plan to transition SS to the junior class. This month's newsletter announced that their yearly assessment would begin in early January. Ms. M and I were discussing what the assessment entailed when I mentioned that we did not want SS to be with 2 year olds in two months when she turns four. Ms. M was gobsmacked because she thought SS was nearing her third birthday. Granted, SS's mute impersonation had a lot to do with that, along with the potty training and overall lack of independence. She is a tiny little thing and we can see that people forget her actual age.

When I picked up SS today Ms. M told me that they completed SS's assessment and that SS is ready to move to the junior classroom except for the potty training. Ms. M stated that after the post Christmas miracle SS is actually talking, mainly about Buzz Lightyear and how she is Buzz, but heck it is still talking. It looks like we got what we were hoping for, an ice breaker for SS. Ms. M made us an offer, they want to help with SS's potty training. That was unexpected because they are strict about not accepting a child in underwear until the child has been successful at home for two weeks. Ms. M asked us to bring SS on Wednesday wearing undies and with a change of clothing. According to her SS's diaper is usually dry when they change her after snack, and since SS is very good at following directions they think it won't be long before our girl is trained. And by undies they meant that, they do not accept kids in pull-ups at school.

I was surprised by their offer, but the Mama in me felt like a failure if it takes others to potty train my child. I discussed it with P during lunch and he felt that it was a good idea, but understood how I felt. But this is about SS not about my ego, so we decided to go for it right then and there. SS had just a couple of day time diapers left and we decided we are not buying more. If we have 176 reasons (we buy diapers at Costco) to give up we are going to use them. I got SS's Halloween panties out, had her choose one and the potty training began. We brought her potty to the living room, not hygienic or aesthetically pleasing but necessary.

The plan was to have SS sit on the potty every 30 minutes, because unlike school, she urinates quite a bit at home. Maybe because SS is constantly drinking at home, she always has either milk or juice within her reach. Shortly after P left I sat SS on the potty and popped a DVD in the player. As SS was in DVD trance I heard that familiar noise. SS's expression was priceless. She looked between her legs with a curious look. For the first time since we began sitting her on the potty SS actually fully urinated. Before we only got a few drops here and there. We did the happy potty dance, we high fived, and we made a video to send to Baba. Then SS happily trotted to the bathroom to dump her liquid deposit in the big toilet and flushed. I have never seen someone so excited to flush a toilet.

By the time we bathed SS in the evening she had urinated seven times in the potty. It is weird to be on potty alert and making her sit down every thirty minutes. Definitely not an easy breezy process. After dinner we headed to T@rget and W@lmart to buy big girl underwear. Thanks to Abuela (left over Christmas money) SS scored Yo Gabba Gabba, Kai Lan, Dora, Wonder Pets, Sponge Bob Squarepants and Blues Clues undies. One thing we anticipated was SS wanting boy briefs because that is the only way to get Buzz undies. It really sucks that they do not make Buzz panties. At T@rget I found P holding a pack of Buzz briefs. As much as I like to indulge SS's Buzz obsession I am not prepared to have her wear boy undies. Mainly because she will be using the bathroom with other girls at school and kids are cruel creatures. I do not want SS to be ridiculed or called a boy. Potty training is traumatic enough for her, she does not need teasing as well.

It was funny that Abuela ended up buying SS's undies, because she also bought JJ's first big boy undies, Underoos. She knew I was going to start potty training him and sent him three packages. I do not recall what kind of character they were, but remember they were red (Abuela's favorite color). So she unintentionally evened things out with SS, who was beyond excited with her new big girl purchase. We are hoping that this works. Our biggest fear is SS's reaction to the inevitable accidents. She is obviously traumatized about wetting herself, and there is no doubt on our minds that it is SWI related. Since she was not potty trained when we met (some children SS's age then are fully potty trained) it probably was about wetting her diaper. Pi$$es us off beyond belief that our baby girl still has deep emotional scars. No matter how much we reassure her that accidents are OK she can't let go.

We are not going to worry about night time at this time. We will keep buying overnighters or pull-ups. SS has a heck of a lot on her plate and since she is so sensitive we do not want to overwhelm her. We are hoping that this time we are successful. BTW, the timing is just right because the smallest undies (2T) finally fit.



Potty training is hard work and it led to a mid afternoon nap. She wore her Buzz pull-ups.

SS cracks us up with her need to line up her toys, in this case all were Buzz toys.

She looks so grown up with this jacket and boots, makes us miss our baby. We picked up a kiddie DVD to celebrate SS's prolific afternoon.