Potty Training Boot Camp: End of Day One

Getting ready to go to our friends for the Feast of Seven Fishes

(we don't celebrate Christmas, but we celebrate friendship)

Putting the new"Baby Annie" on the potty. 

Baby Annie's ability to pee makes quite a mess so her talents 

will be restricted to the tub from now on!

Well, after a morning filled with accidents (plus the second half of one pee, caught on the potty), I was a little discouraged.

Calliope woke up from a nice long nap (thank you!) with a dirty diaper and a worsening diaper rash that looks fungal. So that was a good motivator to keep her diaper free this afternoon.

And then she didn't pee all afternoon! Granted, we took a long bath together during the mid-afternoon (she wouldn't get in without me, not sure why, given that she was begging for the bath), which was kind of cheating, since I obviously can't tell if she pees in the tub... though to be fair, she is standing up most of the time so maybe I would be able to tell. Regardless, I didn't see any pee.

After that, she stayed accident free until dinner, when she peed in her highchair. Luckily I had lined it with a dishtowel. I realized it was damp when I had to get her out of the highchair to pick up some food she had thrown (luckily this is relatively rare nowadays, after months with it being a regular occurrence) but I decided to let her keep sitting on it, as a valuable lesson on why it's better not to pee just anywhere. In hindsight, that might not have been the best thing for her rash. Oh well. She didn't complain, anyway.

After dinner, we were winding down for an early bedtime when she started with a little gas. I was very nervous about her pooping on the rug. She popped up a few seconds later but then broke wind again so I put her back on the potty. (I am extremely grateful that she is quite willing to sit on the potty and often initiates, though not this particular time.) Anyway, this second time, she peed!!!

Hooray! Much rejoicing. I sang her potty song with good cheer and wild clapping. She loved that.

We then nursed with her bare bottomed, mostly because she didn't want to wait, and not because I wanted to potty her one more time. But after nursing, I decided what the heck, and tried one last time.

And she peed again!!!

Cue joyful singing and raucous clapping again!

This last pee was a little tiny one and so I think she eeked it out just so she could hear the song again. After all, it had been, what, ten minutes? If that. But I don't care!

I had been hoping to have just one success, to make me feel like today was worth the sacrifice of my sanity. But two successes made me feel like a rock star!

Just praying that tomorrow builds off today's wins. I know the odds are good that there will be many more setbacks. But at least the first day is over. I know that I won't go completely crazy -- I sort of found my stride in how to mentally cope with the tedium. It was actually sort of nice to be one hundred percent focused on Calliope. She certainly loved having me at her beck and call!

The salty snacks (crackers) were definitely a win -- she drank tons of water as a result. Popsicles were a big loser -- she refused to try them and sobbed desperately when I had the gall to restrain her and brush one against her lips (am I wrong to do this? to force her to try something I know she will like? there are so very many things she refuses to ever taste).

Tomorrow afternoon, my friend and Calliope's pseudo godmother (one of my two friends present at her birth), Auntie Salt Lick, is coming to keep us company. She will spend the night and much of the next day. I am very, very grateful for the reinforcement!