A Response to Potty Training

Potty Training Day has come and gone! If you read the previous blog (well, it's actually the next blog if you read them in order from the top of the screen down...) you will see a comment from Leftygirl saying she thinks I'm overthinking. This blog today is a tribute to her genius!
You will also notice that I said I was going to potty train the week after August 15th. Well, that week went like this:
Avoided!
OK, OK, so we pushed it back a month and began Potty Training on Sept. 15th. Here's how it all went down:
Sept. 14th evening - We told Emer that tomorrow was a special, exciting day! She was going to learn to use the potty like a big girl! She giggled. And, if I remember correctly, went to bed just fine.
Sept. 14th - 8:00am - We sat down to breakfast, as usual. I figured I'd get us through the morning food routine then begin the training process. So after breakfast we brought the potty into the kitchen (per my book's recommendation) and I reminded her what Mommy does on the potty and how she sits Elmo on the potty at times. I then let her choose her panties and traded the diaper for panties. I asked her to sit on the potty. She refused at first, but finally did sit for about 30 seconds.
Later morning - We were trying to sit on the potty every 15 minutes. I was using Goldfish (she would get one when she sat on the potty) for bribery. She didn't go once all morning. I was ready with stickers, apple juice, and cookies! But there was no opportunity to reinforce anything!
11:00ish - Emer seemed to have gotten bored with the whole potty training thing and was now refusing to sit on the potty. She also FINALLY peed, all over the top of the potty and the floor! She started crying and throwing a fit. I tried to get her to step off the potty and sit on it but this made it worse. Pure, 100% temper tantrum.
Noonish - She finally calmed down enough to let me clean up the mess. We decided to have some lunch. I asked if she wanted a diaper back on for lunch and she did. So had a nap right after lunch...
1:45 - We traded diaper for panties and started once again on the potty. I asked if she wanted the potty in the bathroom and together we moved it there. This helped her sit on it, but she again would not sit for more than 30 seconds. One time she got up, walked into the kitchen, and peed. She didn't realize she was doing it, though, until her foot moved into it (she was peeing on bah). She threw another fit, but refused to sit on the potty and try to finish. It went on like this...all afternoon...until...
5:30 - She peepeed on the potty!! However, this experience solidified my suspicions that she wasn't ready for this. I got excited when I heard it and shared my excitement. She was smiling and clapping, then stood up and went to close the lid. She saw the pee in her potty and said, "Oh yeah!" like she was surprised there was something in there! She had no idea what she had just done! But we celebrated with ice cream b/c I NEEDED some, ha! I don't believe she ever made a connection between the ice cream and using the potty.
6:00 - She sat on the potty, went a tiny bit and said she was done. We then went outside to walk in the yard and she proceeded to finish peeing in her panties. Or so I thought. I took her in to change her and she peed all over the floor! She slipped on it and got terribly upset all over again...
Later than evening - My mom called to check on how things had been going. She finally understood why I thought Emer wasn't ready to learn to use the potty. We all agreed to put it away and bring it out in a month so. I was never so happy to have someone tell me to quit something!
I have had sleepless nights; I have taken care of a sick baby; I have dealt with a 2 year old who won't go to bed or sleep through the night; I have cleaned up food thrown from the high chair. But nothing, and I mean NOTHING, has been as stressful and awful an experience as Sept. 15th, 2010. Everyone kept teasing me by saying Emer was going to be graduating high school and asking me to potty train her. Now I don't care how old she is. I am not sure i can try this again in a month. Maybe Christmas break. Or maybe (since she and Hayden copy everything), after Hayden is potty trained! Just don't look for an update anytime soon :)