The Trenches Part 3

We've been at it for 3 1/2 months now, off and mostly on, but I think it's safe to say Hazel's pretty much potty trained now. I've stopped asking her if she wants to go potty except for when we're about to head out the door. She goes when she feels like it, which is far less often than I was making her try, and she holds it between. She stays dry during naps and even at night. She's only had one accident in the last two weeks, and she was standing in front of the toilet with her panties pulled down - she was so close and it was not a big deal to me because she was still right on with what she needed to do.

Hazel rocked it when we were in Utah. No accidents that whole week, and she was completely off routine. She kept it together and did awesome.

And our big hurdle, poop? She's been having dum-dums every single day. She poops at our house, at Target, in her froggy potty on the side of the road, at church, at friends' houses. She pooped in a porta-pottie during Todd's race. Wherever, whenever. It's no big deal anymore. Now I've just got to wean her from the reward sucker.

The only thing holding her back is that I still put her in a pull-up when I'm nervous about an accident. (At night, during long car rides, etc.) I've got to let her go all panties and see what she can do. Although, she keeps the pull-up dry, too, so maybe there's no harm in it? What do you think?

My favorite thing is that she's taken the phrase "go pee-pee in the potty" and shortened it. She now announces that she goes "peep in the pod." I think that's so hilarious. She's such a goof.

From the Trenches

*Disclaimer: There's a lot of potty language in here. I'm embarrassed to post, but need advice. Don't read if you'll be grossed out or judge me. ;)

Potty training is in full swing here. I've gotta admit, I'm wingin' it. Maybe I should have read a couple of books on the topic or feverishly discussed it at playgroup before digging in. It's been hovering over my head for many, many months now. We bought a little potty nearly a year ago, and Hazel's quite accomplished at using it before hopping in the tub each night. But as for going all out, first it seemed Hazel was not quite ready, then it seemed if we tried it would be a battle of wills, so it just wasn't happening.

About two weeks ago, we window shopped princess panties. Hazel was just about drooling. So we started talking it up. "When you go pee pee in the potty all the time, you can wear panties!!!"

Then Hazel started to annoy me by asking for diaper changes right after she went - even if it was just a little tinkle. I got tired of throwing away almost dry diapers and made her go potty and empty her bladder before I'd put a new one on. She started successfully keeping her diaper dry for several hours at a time.

So I got the princess pull-ups I bought months ago out of storage. Hazel was thrilled with them. She spent about thirty minutes straight that first day "practicing" pulling them down, sitting on the potty, pulling them up. She's still in a dress-only fashion bubble, so clothes aren't an issue right now. And I thought, what the heck, let's cold-turkey it. She hasn't been in a diaper since.

For the next couple of days, she'd start to pee in the pull-ups, stop herself, and finish the job in the bathroom. It's now been probably five days where she hasn't peed in the pull-ups at all. She's got it down.

It's the poop that's the problem.

She won't use the potty for it. I know it's supposedly normal for potty training to happen in stages, but how long should I expect? In the meantime, what do I do? I tried her in panties today instead of a pull-up and it was a big mistake. It did nothing to change her behavior and DID cause a scene in the store we were shopping at and DID make a gross mess I had to clean up (thankfully only on Hazel and not on the store floor) and it's WAY worse than cleaning up a diaper. So I think we'll be in pull-ups for a while yet.

I don't know what my next step should be. Do I stay chill and act like it's no big deal that she won't poop in the potty? Do I make a big deal that she's pooping on the princesses and they don't like it? How long until she does what she's supposed to do where she's supposed to do it?