Schizophrenic Potty Training

Once again, I am posting about the potty. Sad but true....potty training has occupied the majority of my time (or so it seems) for the last 6 months. We have given up at least 4 times. We have tried every tactic that I can think of....positive reinforcement, rewards, threats, etc. I have actually read books on the subject (I have not read many parenting books over the years...it just hasn't been my thing). We have good days and bad days and REALLY bad days. But I am determined to get this kid trained. Part of my problem is that I have high expectations of her. She is so verbal that sometimes I forget that she is still 2. I know that mentally she should be able to do this. I also know that she is having "control issues" over the potty. I am just determined to be the one that wins this one!

On Thursday when I drove up to pick Riley up from school, the teacher asked me to come inside. Not a good sign. We had a talk about how Riley is really struggling with the potty issues. She is in the 3 year old class and is supposed to be totally potty trained. But she has accidents every day at school. Her teacher told me that she is "playing around" when they go to the potty. She also mentioned the control issue thing. We talked about possible solutions and one of them is to send Riley to the baby class. I am okay doing this temporarily, but I don't want to do it for good because I feel like that would be a complete waste of our money. We left the conversation with no good solution. I was frustrated. It didn't help that I had worked the night before and was completely exhausted. I went home and just cried.

So a new day dawned and we got in the car to drive 8 hours to North Carolina to meet my new niece. No way were we doing this without Pull-ups! Plus I knew it was about time for Riley to poop as she had been leaving skid marks and complaining of her "tummy hurting". Mind you, she has only pooped in the potty once and it was a complete accident. That seems to be one of our biggest obstacles. I entered this trip unsure of what the potty situation would be like this weekend. Needless to say, I did not have a lot of hope.

So this morning, Riley went to the potty once. Doing okay so far. Then she was standing there in the "poop stance"....legs crossed, bent over, trying to hold it in. She announced "I have to go potty" and we ran. I said a silent prayer but doubted that she would actually do anything. We got to the bathroom and she threw her usual fit about sitting on the potty when she has to poop. But I told her that she would be going to the baby class if she didn't. I'm not sure what convinced her, but she got on the potty. And lo and behold, she POOPED!!!! A big old fat turd! We all celebrated like she had just discovered electricity or something!! Oh happy day!! Especially because after that she said "I like pooping on the potty!". Have we really turned a corner? Is this the beginning of the end of potty training? The glimmer of hope returned to my eye as I proudly gazed on my little girl.

Then 15 minutes later she peed on the floor.