Potty Training

WARNING: This is NOT an "I have 6 kids, 

therefore know how to do this" post...

Just to document how this has gone...

I decided that friday was the day, together Sophie and I threw away all her pull-ups. We went to the store and bought: licorice, mini slim jims and mini popsicles for her treats when she went pee in the potty.

I was hopeful. She was not. Even though I offered her candy, toys, stickers, hugs, etc...

Sophie is 3 and a half. My first 3 kids I started potty training while they were 2. It was a miserable, accidents for a year, type experience. So with Logan and Lily I decided to wait until they were 3. MAGIC. It was so easy, they picked up on it so quick, that I thought waiting until they were older was the answer. Then along came Sophie. UGH!!!

We were in the process of building a house, selling a house and moving when she turned 3, so I decided to wait. We have tried a few times to potty train her since December, but she SCREAMED and cried and kicked and did not want to wear panties. She cried on the floor,
"I want to wear diapers!"

So I had decided to wait until she wanted to. But now that she will be 4 in July, and its embarrassing to have her still in diapers... I decided it was time wether she wanted to or not.

Here is how it went:

Thursday night she asked if she could wear panties, and I said "YES!! But girls who wear panties have to go pee in the potty." And then she cried and changed her mind.

Friday morning I woke her up at 8am, and we threw all the pull-ups away. And told her she gets to wear panties, at which point she started crying (loud screaming tears crying). I put the panties on her anyway. She cried straight until 9:30am. One and a half hours.

Since she hadn't peed in the potty yet, at 9 (still crying) I carried her to the toilet and said (I was honestly so patient through all of this) "you need to sit on the potty until your pee comes out". Because in the past she would sit on the potty however long, not pee, then get up and pee in her panties, I decided we just needed to sit there until it happened. The first 30 minutes she cried and I had to hold her there. I got some books and started reading to her, while she cried. She finally stopped crying and we read books for an hour.... still no pee. By now I started crying. I kept texting Bruce grumpy texts about how easy it is to be a dad and not have to potty train. Sorry, but I was so tired of hearing crying screaming and sitting by the toilet. 

At 11:05am, still sitting on the potty... Sophie started grumping and kind of telling me she didn't want to go pee in the potty and didn't want to sit on the toilet.... and in the middle of her complaining she started peeing... IN THE POTTY! She looked shocked, looked down at what was happening, so surprised... and I started clapping and yelling, "YEAH!!!! Sophie you did it!!!!"... and she looked at me and said, "NO!" She was still so mad at me, and didn't want me to cheer, even though she did it.

So I gave her candy, then we went to the store and she picked out whatever treat she wanted to bring home for when she peed in the toilet.  She finally warmed up to the idea...

Now its sunday, I stayed home from church to keep potty training... but it is still not going well. BLEK!!!

I can tell that she can't control it yet, or on demand pee. Because we will still sit on the potty for 30 minutes waiting... and nothing happens. Then she pees in her panties. We have cheered and set timers, given treats for rewards, watched YOUTUBE potty training cartoons, and tried every 45 minutes or so. Sometimes she does it, sometimes not. Its about 50/50 accidents and in the potty.

It is so exhausting. I am so done having kids. I cannot do this again.
I am so warn out of cleaning up pee!! 

The first night we started, she had an accident right before bedtime at 7:30pm... right after we had tried. I was so exhausted, she went to her room without panties on and I just left her there. I came in 10 minutes later to get her dressed and read to her in bed...

to find she had crawled in bed and went to sleep on her own without any pants on still, poor thing.

Then I realized that this is wearing her out too. :(

Potty Training is so exhausting.