It's Her Potty and I'll Cry If I Want To

So potty training. Not my fun time. I'm soooooo tired of sitting in the bathroom. And being perky and upbeat and supportive about the whole thing when in my head I’m screaming, “Just pee already…and stop playing around!” And of course thinking such things makes me feel like a terrible mother. One of the ladies I visit teach is so serene, so calm and peaceful with her kids. She speaks to them in a low, calm voice, reasoning with them and they respond. I try to reason with my kids and they just look at me like I’ve lost my mind which, in fact, I might have. I always come away from out visits feeling like the spazy mom rather than the serene mom. But I digress. Back to the potty talk. After our rough start a few weeks back, Malia did pretty well. She was getting the hang of things and had days when she was mostly dry. I was optimistic.

And then last week rolled around and Malia decided she didn't want to go potty. At all. Major setback. After a few days of that, she had another good day and I was hopeful again.

And then this week happened. And we have hit the potty wall again. She'll happily go to the potty if one of her brothers will go to because then it is a "potty party," but other than that she is not cooperative. I'm reminded of the comments my older sister makes about potty training her oldest. They came to an agreement where she (my sister) wouldn't make her and she (my niece) wouldn't bother.

That's where we are. I don't want to make this a big power struggle so I've stepped back a bit and Malia is just fine with that. And now I'm not sure where to go from here because we have one month until preschool. I'm sure things will come in time because my niece just finished her first year of college and she didn't do it in diapers, but I'm at somewhat of a loss. I wanted to teach Malia this skill without resorting to bribery like I did with the boys (stickers, treats, dollar store trips…I really don’t want to go there) but I might have to pull out something sparkly to give her some incentive.

This is one of those times when I'm reminded of just how young Malia is compared to the other kids she will go to school with. A few more months to get ready would probably be good. And I'm also reminded of just how much the dumb migraines affect my life because they are the reason we didn't begin this whole adventure earlier in the year. And once again I’m feeling like the spazy mom because everyone says that girls are easier to potty train than boys and honestly, I’m just not seeing it…