The Potty Chronicles vol. 3

So lately I've been doing a lot of thinking, reading, talking to people about potty training and things I can do differently, praying for inspiration and ways to keep from being frustrated, and thinking about why I'm going about things the way I am.

Well, it all sort of hit me this afternoon.  Erin wet her pants.  We went into the bathroom, I helped her pull off her pants, and then went to clean up the trail on the carpet.  When I got back into the bathroom, Erin looked at me with tears in her eyes and said "Pweeze diaper Mommy?  I not want panties."  I admit I teared up myself, poor thing.  I'd been so focussed on how stressing it was for me, I hadn't thought about what it's doing to her.  And she gets incredibly upset when she has an accident.  So I put her in a diaper.

I've spent all afternoon thinking about it some more.  So many people have said that going cold turkey to panties will help, that after wetting for a couple days they'd get the idea.  And Erin truly does love her panties. But I just don't think we can keep going the way we are.  I also put her in panties because she's still battling the same rash she's had for several months (though no more boils since we switched brands thank goodness), and she's been doing so much better since spending most of her days in panties.  And there are other reasons, but I'm not going to go there.

Anyway, so I've decided I'll still use my timer, and still take her to the bathroom every so often and have her sit there, and give her chocolate, and celebrate when she goes in the potty.  I'm just going to have her in diapers in the interim so that she's not so traumatized by the accidents.  I'll put her in panties again when she's going in the potty fairly reliably.

I hate to say my dad was right, but yeah, you were right Dad.