This is Miriam

This is Miriam eating an ice cream cone.

An ice cream cone she EARNED by pooping on the POTTY!


That's right, I've got a potty-trained two-year-old.  Woohoo!


The Story

Background information:

• Miriam was not at all interested in learning how to use the potty.  Not one bit.  We'd ask her if she wanted to go (even bribing with candy) and she'd say "no".  She never turns down candy.  
• Sometimes we would put her on the potty anyway, just to see what would happen, and she would whine and say she wanted to get off. 
• She wasn't waking up dry after naptime, let alone in the morning.  I've heard this is a prerequisite.
• Once upon a time, she would tell me when she was going or after she'd gone, but never beforehand.  She had stopped telling me this lovely detail though.  
• Honestly, she seemed quite content wearing soggy/poopy diapers.  Gross and uncomfortable sounding, I know, but it's the truth.  As far as I could tell, Miriam would have been content to wear diapers until she went off to college (I may or may not be exaggerating here) and really, I was fine with that too (well, maybe if she had hit 4 or 5 I would start to care).  
• Changing a diaper isn't a big deal to me.  Having to take a child to the potty sounds like a lot more work because I can't just fit that into my day whenever it's convenient. 
• I'd been given all sorts of advice (when she's ready, she'll pretty much potty-train herself, make sure she thinks she's in control, etc.) and signs of readiness to watch for from well-meaning friends and family and even our awesome pediatrician, all of which had me convinced that she wasn't "ready" and that it would be a nightmare if I tried before she was.
• Owen wanted her potty-trained and was sure she was ready.

So, on a Wednesday night, Owen came home from class and I said if he wanted her potty-trained, he had to get it started.  He sat in the bathroom with her on the potty for two hours.  No luck.

I said that since he started it out that night, that I would continue trying on Thursday.  I must have been a little excited and hopeful that we would eventually get somewhere.  I woke up Thursday ready to go.  The plan, set the timer for every ten minutes (yes, every ten minutes) and when the timer beeped, we'd go to the potty.  It was a long day.  Have you ever tried to get things done in ten minute intervals.  Dishes.  Nursing.  Making breakfast.  It was crazy.  I don't think we ate breakfast until 10:30 or some crazy hour like that.  Luckily I was smart and showered and all that jazz before the kids were awake.  By noon, I was about ready to quit.  She'd had one accident and no successes.  I told Owen that if she still hadn't gone on the potty by bedtime, I was done.  Lucky for him, we had success.  Number one before naptime and number two before bedtime. 
I was excited and ready to get back at it again the next day.  A little success was all I needed to see.  By the way, those were the first times she'd EVER gone on the potty. 

Friday morning, she woke up and was reluctant to sit on the potty again.  I was worried it would be like started Thursday all over again.  I set the timer at first, and then said the magic words, "Mom, I need to go potty." So we ran in and guess what?  She did!  Amazing.  The next few hours continued much the same.  We stopped setting the timer.  I was even brave enough (or crazy, you decide) to take the kids to campus so we could eat lunch with Daddy.  I took back-up clothes, but she was fine.  We discovered our next hurdle though: public restrooms.  They've got the BIG toilet, with the seat that's not connected in front.  I think she was scared.

Saturday, we stayed home for the majority of the day, but had a birthday dinner planned with my sister's family and my parents.  Again, public restrooms.  This time she had an accident though.  No big deal, really.  We cleaned it up, changed clothes and went on our way.

Sunday.  Church.  BIG toilets.  She kept telling me she needed to go.  So I'd take her and as soon as she was on the big toilet, she's get that scared look and say she wanted to get down.  Our church does have the itty bitty toilets (Have you seen them?  They're adorable, really.) but they are in the nursery and all this potty mess was taking place during Sacrament meeting so we didn't want to be walking in and out while another ward was having nusery.  Plus, I figured it was something she'd need to get over sooner or later.  I opted for sooner.  On the third or fourth attempt, she had success!  Woohoo!

Ever since, she's been pretty well trained.  She's had a couple accidents, but I'd say they were our fault for letting her be too busy and engrossed with something.  We are still struggling with pooping.  I think it scares her.  We even have the big ice cream cones for a reward, but they aren't working.  I keep hoping that she'll get over it, so hopefully she will soon.

And naptime/bedtime.  I have no clue what to do about these.  I just throw a diaper on her and call it good for now.

Anyway, that's the story.  And if you read that entire post, wow, you must be weird for being so interested in someone's elimination to read all about it.  Just kidding.  Thanks for reading all about my adventures in potty-training.