Monday, March 10, 2008

Another Potty Training Story

There once was a time that Rachel would just sit on the potty if you put her there, and before that there was the time that she couldn't sit up anywhere at all--but that was a long, long time ago. Sure, she'd fall off the potty every once in a while and I'd have to catch her before she hit the ground, but for the most part she'd just sit there. Then her balance got good enough that I could, say, put her on the potty and brush my teeth or put a load of laundry in.

Those good ol' days are over. Now Rachel will only sit on the potty if she wants to. Otherwise she'll just get off. I have no problem with her getting off the potty, except that it kind of sticks to her little bummy and so when she starts crawling, the potty goes along with her for a little bit until it becomes unstuck.

Usually this isn't a big problem. Except that Rachel has discovered that an upside down potty makes a wonderful drum. She doesn't understand why I don't approve of that activity.

It is a pretty big problem when she decides to get down by herself after she's used the potty, though. More often than not I'm close by, doing my hair or something, and can tell her to "stay on [her] potty" and then can help her off. Today, however, was different. I left her unattended for about thirty seconds, which is something you just shouldn't do with Rachel.

"You go pee-pee, Rachel. Mommy's going to go get some clean clothes for you."

I ran into her bedroom, grabbed the first onesie and pair of pants that I saw and raced back to the bathroom.

I was too late. Rachel had gone pee-pee, decided that she was done and climbed off the potty. It had stuck to her bum when she got down on her hands and knees and half of the pee had spilled on the floor. The potty, luckily enough, had stayed right side up and Rachel was busy splashing the pee remaining in the bowl, unluckily enough.

She only got a few good splashes in before I stopped her but those splashes were enough to get pee pretty much everywhere. How, how, how does she make such big messes so quickly?

On a happier note, I found a way to get her to play with her own toys and books instead of exploring.

I clean them up. The minute her books are back on the shelf and her toys in their bins, she's back pulling everything out again. It's an almost foolproof way to keep her entertained for 2 minutes to two hours. The only problem is that there are only so many times a day I am willing to clean up her toys!

2 comments:

Crys said...

OH I giggled with glee when I read this. I've been waiting for the day! Just wait until she starts walking. Grace sometimes will sit for two second and then jump up and try to run away in midstream! Good times, good time :)

Bethany said...

I am VERY impressed that you are doing potty training with Rachel already. You must have amazing dedication and patience to do that. Good luck with it. As for picking up toys more than once a day, I am very sympathetic to your plight. Sadly enough, picking up toys and stuff more than once a day became very unimportant so during the day my house looked like 3 or 4 hurricanes had come through and when Daniel was finally down for the night, the cleaning fairy came.