Tuesday, March 29, 2011

Potty Training . . .almost flawless

Originally written the week of February 13, 2011

I let Lexi run around our house bottomless for several weeks after I discovered that when pantless, she was essentially potty trained- wouldn't even tell anyone she needed to go  . .would just go to the toilet and do her thing.  It was great, except that she had to be naked.  If she was wearing any sort of bottoms. .pants, panties, diapers . . .she had no issue going in them.  So I was stuck with how to make the transition to panties so that she could be potty trained in public and not just at home (figured I couldn't drop off my half naked child of  at the gym daycare or in nursery).  Well eventually, at the beginning of last week to be exact, I decided I just had to pull the trigger and deal with some accidents while she transitioned into panties.  So, away went the diapers and to church she went like a big girl.  A big girl that later peed a little in her pants in nursery, but we were on our way to success hopefully.  The week progressed well-very few accidents and no poop incidents.

Then came Thursday . . .a  day I would like to take back and redo if I could.
I had a visiting teaching appointment and I am a firm believer in not switching from panties back to diapers so away we went with Lexi in her big girl pants. . .allbeit a little nervous as it was the time of day that she normally had a BM and she also hadn't peed in several hours.  Well I kept a close eye on her for a while knowing that sometimes she would just start taking her pants off when she was ready to go. . . but eventually we ladies got chatting and Lexi wandered upstairs to go play in my friend's twin girls' room.  Shortly thereafter Lexi comes wandering back to us . .naked and saying "poop".
Panic hits me as I grab my bag and go upstairs to see what has happened.  Well, I find Lexi's little pile in the carpeted closet and she shows me her underwear that she had placed in the nearby garbage can.  Why can't she just poop her pants like a normal toddler?  No, she has to know she is going to poop and take her pants off first and then do it.  And why can't she have nice formed poop instead of being queen of loose stools?  Well, I miraculously get it all up and really you can't even tell where she went-although I am so embarassed and some got on little purse that my friend just told me to throw away.  I put new panties on her and she runs away again before I even get pants on her.  (Looking  back this was a big mistake as I know her and they way she does things in groupings)

So a few minutes later she is back naked again saying she needs to go poop.  I take her to the potty and she does pee and poop and then I got upstairs only to find her panties in the bathroom (which she didn't use) and another runny pile in the middle of the girls' room instead.  I am thinking "this isn't really happening" and run back downstairs to grab my "supplies" again.  It only got worse as while I was grabbing my bag, Lexi then stepped in this runny pooh and proceeded to walk around the room forming nice little poop footprints all over the carpet and on a blanket!  I vigorously start scrubbing with diaper wipes but soon come to the reality that it isn't going to clean up all nicely this time and yell to my friend asking her if she still has her steam cleaner.  I wanted to die!  I  was seriously just mortified and told her I was never coming back.  She sprayed it with carpet cleaner and said she would just run the steamer over it when she got back.  She was so nice about it (even if she wanted to kill me deep down) and assured me it was nothing compared to her daughters who were "poop painters", but nonetheless, it wasn't her daughters and she had already been there and done that and shouldn't have to do it again with someone else's kid!  So I left her girls' room looking and smelling like an outhouse completely wanting to erase the last 20 minutes of my life!

It is said that visiting teaching blesses the lives of those we visit. . .pretty sure this doesn't count!
My only saving grace is that while typing this Lexi just told me and went poop in the potty just like she has done ever since that horrible day!

And now here we are at the end of March and I haven't had a child in diapers day or night for 7 weeks for the first time in over 7 1/2 years.  It will be short lived, but enjoyed nonetheless.

7 comments:

Robin said...

Congrats on making me laugh and the diaper free zone! Short lived = number 5?

Lisa said...

Hilarious as always!! It is fun to get a little update on your family! We are back in portland and have added another girl to our mix to bring us up to the 2 boys, 2 girls too! My question is the same as Robin's though... Is this a backhanded announcement?? :)

Lachelle said...

Wow.

it's just lisa said...

short-lived?????

daveandbri said...

No, I'm just having some bladder issues - Dave :)

Erin said...

Thanks for living through embarrassing situations to later write about them and make me laugh! I think you should probably write a book :)

Jenna said...

Like Erin, I think you should write a book!