Potty Training

Juliette has decided she is ready to potty train!  Please note that I say "Juliette", because I HATE POTTY TRAINING!!! Please remember that I have trained 2 girls already and it is no more my favorite now than it has been in the past. I'm just not good at it and I'm not asking for advice this time, because honestly I've tried everything in the past and I've settled on one plan that seems to work well.  I just let them wear diapers until they decide they don't want to wear diapers anymore.  At first I thought that they might still be wearing them when they were teenagers, but then I slowly realized that human beings do not desire to be bound by plastic underpants.  We start out that way and unfortunately most of us end that way, but in between we will do whatever it takes to wear as little of that stuff as possible. Anyhow, all that to say that Juliette has begun WAYYYY too early for my tastes.  I would've been fine with her waiting until she was 4, but no she wants to do it now so here we go!  I do the rewards and she LOVES that part, but connected to her love for being naked is also her love of sitting on the toilet.  She says "Bik, Mommy, Bik." For any of you that don't speak 2 year old talk that means Book.  She wants to read a book while she sits there, and sits there and sits there.  She also says to me, "Go! Go!" She wants her privacy.  The only problem is that she CANNOT be alone in the bathroom or unfortunate events occur.  One time I turned around for a second and when I came back she was standing...IN THE TOILET!!! Thankfully this had not been a successful trip to the bathroom and Juliette was having a great time splashing in "clean" toilet water...EWWWWW!

This is why I hate potty training.  A diaper is a clean process. I am REALLY good at diapers now. Between my job(mom/baby nurse) and my 3 children in the last 6 years I would consider myself a professional.  The problem comes in when they decide they want to take the diapers OFF and then it is no longer a clean process.  Anyhow, that is my life right now.  In between potty runs, I quickly check on the older girls school and then run back to the potty.  Then I run and put a dish in the dishwasher and run back to the potty. and then another dish, potty, etc... you get the picture.  Please refrain from writing comments like the following, "Oh I trained my Susie in a weekend. She is amazing!"  "Oh Johnny when to the potty one time and that was it!" I used to think I was doing something wrong so I tried EVERYTHING.  Then I realized one day that between my girls and I this process was just meant to take longer than most people...Years longer than most people.  The good news is that Bethleen and Tia are actually potty trained fully.  Forget that it took from about 2 1/2 years from start to finish for each of them.  I've got my army boots on and I'm ready to roll.  We will successfully be done this journey of potty training in November of 2017 if all goes as before.  Wow that seems a LONG LONG way away, but I know it will go fast.  God bless all you fellow potty trainers. The following picture was taken in July of 2013.  This is Bethleen and Tia.