Blog | Potty Training
We have tried off and on for about a year to potty train B. She is not interested. At all. We tried every trick we could think of, and every trick everyone else told us about. NOT INTERESTED! So, we did what we always do when we are faced with a question we can’t answer. We did some research. Apparently, our little angel was engaged in a power struggle with us. As several sources pointed out, this is not and never will be a power struggle we can win. Only she has control over her body.
So, with that in mind, we set our sites for Memorial Day weekend and set up the following plan/rules: She has to wear underwear when awake (diapers only used for sleeping and pool time). She is responsible for her pee and poop. If she needs to go, she is to stop what she is doing and go. If we are out and about, she is to ask and we will take her to the potty. If she has an accident (akkident in B speak), she has to clean it up and change her clothes. We will not remind her. We do not go in and sit with her or otherwise keep her company. We will only help as needed. She gets one M&M for pee, two for poop, and if she stays clean and dry all day she gets to add a sticker to her prize chart:
As you can see, there are four prizes on the prize chart: Guido, Luigi, Doc, and the creme-de-la-creme: Mack! The first day (Saturday) she did o.k., but not great. I had visions of having to do a load of underwear everyday just so she would have clean underwear. But the next day (Sunday), she did GREAT! She had one accident, but we did not fault her for that because I was in her bathroom, she did not really know what to do, and she held in the poop until I got out. In our book, that was my bad and not hers. So, Sunday night she earned her first sticker and prize!
Adding the sticker to her prize chart:
Showing off her prize (Guido):
Since then, she has done GREAT. She has already earned Luigi, and if she stays clean and dry today and tomorrow, she will earn Doc by tomorrow night (Wednesday)! In case you are wondering, that means she has only had accidents on 3 of the last 9 days, and on each of those days she only had one accident. Even better, all accidents have been of the wet variety!
We are hopeful this means this power struggle is now over. I know…there will be more… 
