Grace is complex. As
every child is. You see, I held off
potty training as long as I could but when the child woke up with dry diapers
every morning, practically took herself to the bathroom, and though she did not change her own pants she removed the the soiled ones from her bum (sick), I decided I
could put it off no longer. So we bought
a potty seat, a stool, a chart, some stickers, and some undies, and for two days she was
absolutely flawless. She’s going to be an easy one! I thought.
Dead wrong.
After proving that she was capable, it became a small war to convince her that she should. I tried everything: charts, treats, candy, stickers,
small prizes, big prizes, no prizes, celebration phone calls to uncles and
grandmas, praise, guilt, ignoring, undies, pull-ups, buck nekkid for DAYS, putting her back in diapers, consistency,
enthusiasm, nonchalance, rationalization, compassion, natural consequences (superior
diaper rash mixed with eczema) and then eventually—though I, too, have read all
those same websites as every other mother—anger, then LOTS of
anger, then tears because of the anger. All to no avail.
But I believe I can say after 5 long, super-gross months, Grace
Sandra Grace Herrick(as she refers to herself) is officially potty trained. The final nail in the coffin after FIVE
MONTHS of civil war, you ask? Making her
clean up her own mess. (Thank you,
Mother.) Totally did the trick. It was
no longer interesting to see not only WHERE she could leave a mess, but what Mom’s
reaction was going to be THIS time. She found out how disgusting it was to clean up, how
complicated it was for her two-year old motor skills to do it without creating
more mess and getting on herself, and that no matter how long it took, or if
her sister was screaming, she was going to do every bit of it. And it was no longer worth it to continue to
ignore the fact that she was PERFECTLY capable of performing this grown-up function. Hallelujah.
Those were some of the grossest months of my life. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: In
my own parenting experience, nothing has been as disgusting as potty training.
