Good Enough

It's been one week since we started potty training and I'm wiped.  But I think the worst is behind us.

As I stated in the previous post, the first 3 days were great.  Then we had a bad day and a horrible day.  On Wednesday I had to go back to work.  I was petrified to leave my partially potty trained little girl with MaryBeth.  My only saving thought was that she did this a similar way with her little boy Robbie. 

So I dropped her off with 10 pair of panties, 2 changes of clothes, rewards, the potty stick, and a hug.  She did pretty well.  MaryBeth took her to the potty regularly instead of waiting for her to tell her.  It worked pretty well.  She was having success and that felt good to boost her confidence. She still pooped in her panties but that was the only accident.

Thursday was a different story.  She did well in the morning and then woke up from her nap covered in poop and pee.  MaryBeth was getting her up and ready for a tub and Ainsley hit her.  Seriously hit her.  What??? 

I was devastated.  I felt like my little happy girl was gone and in her place was this cranky sinful being.  I think it's one of the first times that I have been faced with her blatant sin.  I know I have more to come but it felt pretty devastating.  I cried quite a bit.

Friday is my day off so I decided to change the subject for her.  I was giving up waiting for her to tell me.  I gave up asking her every few minutes if she had to go or to ask her to tell me when she had to go.  I just took her to the potty every hour or so.  She's got a good bladder and was able to hold it and go every time I took her.  Still woke up with poop from nap and had one pee accident by the pool. But that was good enough for me.

She's been dry all day today and what that tells me is that she's essentially potty trained.  I think I had bought so hard into the other method that I was trying to force something on my child that just wasn't working for her.  I know that she will be able to tell me eventually.  And I know she will get the poops soon.  And she is only 22 months old.

What I needed was to offer her grace.  And a dose for myself as well.  My child isn't a prototype you find in a book.  She's a real person with real feelings and needed to be treated that way.  And since I figured that out and let the book go, she has been happier and so have I. 

Sometimes good enough is good enough.