Potty-training, viruses, and Mariah combined this past week to create a storm unlike any I've ever experienced; and I've experienced a storm or 2 in my day . . . .
Don't feel like you need to endure this post, but I'm going to document for history's sake. And I think I need to get my stress out in words to begin recovery.
It's now a day after I started this post, and I'm feeling much less stressed. But I will still document, for anyone who wants to endure, our week:
Last Tuesday, March 17, was the day. I had planned for over a month to start potty training Mariah. My mom had cleared her schedule to be with Elaine, and I was all prepared. My cousin told me about this great system, 3 Day Potty Training, which I highly recommend for 99.9% of children. Just not Mariah. The basics of the system are we're out of diapers, you're a big girl, you get to wear panties now and go on the toilet. The trainer (me) must be with the child every minute, spending positive, fun time. There are not trips to the bathroom at timed intervals; the trainer just tells the child, "Remember to tell me when you have to go to the bathroom," and "Remember to keep your panties dry." When the child starts to have an accident, the trainer rushes the child to the bathroom--the goal being to end production on the toilet. Wonderful, logical, positive, fast . . . . I was so ready!
But, once again, my child surprised me. Mariah did great the first day. We learned she can hold it FOREVER. And by the end of the day, she was choosing the big toilet every time and climbing up herself. (She looked like a monkey). She was even dry the first night. I did notice, however, that she got the sniffles on Tuesday; I hoped she wasn't getting sick.
It's all a blur now, but the second and third days it became apparent that all of the extra attention (not on potty training, mind you, but on Mariah herself) was overwhelming and really worrying Mariah. She started freaking out about the toilet; each episode was awful, and she absolutely refused to go #2.
Wednesday night we cleared up what I thought was a huge obstacle. Mariah had somehow decided that it was bad to go to the bathroom at all! In her panties OR in the toilet. We had a little talk about it; I explained that it was a very good thing to go in the toilet, and she seemed much more relaxed afterwards. But still no #2.
By Thursday morning we were both a wreck. I had changed Mariah's sheets 3 times during the night, it was obvious Mariah was not feeling well, and I was so tired of her back-and-forth routine:
Mariah (crying): I need to go to the bathroom.
Me: Ok. Do you want to do it yourself? or do you want my help?
Mariah: I want to stay and eat breakfast.
Me: Ok.
Mariah (crying harder): I need to go to the bathroom!!
And 'round and 'round we go. My mom saved us and came down to help. We all went together to her house, and then I left and came home. I put Laney down for a nap, and I crashed for a couple of hours. Thank you, Mom!
Mariah did ok there, but never really made it to the toilet in time, which was a step back. And, it was pretty obvious she felt miserable.
The above pictures are eating breakfast Friday morning.
3 Day Potty Training should be over. It wasn't. Mariah started throwing up Friday.
Laney got the sniffles on Thursday, Mike was not feeling very well on Saturday. We took the kids to the doctor Saturday morning. Mariah had spots on her throat, but no strep; Laney was just congested. So, viruses and nothing we could do about it. I got sick on Sunday and could not move!! I felt so bad for Mariah--having to deal with potty training while feeling so awful! I was so grateful it was Sunday, and Mike was home. He actually took a sick day on Monday too.
Well, long story short, we did the sick, whiny, back and forth, clean up messes, no #2 routine all weekend, Monday, and into Tuesday. (We finally got a glycerine suppository Monday night to solve one of the problems).
Just to put some emphasis on the "clean up messes" part, these are the messes we cleaned up, in one room, on Sunday:
- grape juice
- throw up
- stinks
- gingerale
- water
- cheerios
- ice cream
All except the grape juice were within a 5-minute period: Sunday morning, Elaine found a sippy cup of grape juice hidden in a basket of toys. Later that day, Mariah was on the love sac and threw up. Most of it made it into the bucket, but some got on the love sac. While Mike was attending to Mariah, and I was cleaning the mess, Laney had a blow-out on the carpet. Just as I was getting Laney's diaper changed, Mariah got off the love sac and kicked over my gingerale. Bummer. So, as I cleaned that up, I noticed Mariah's sippy cup of water had been upside down on the love sac the whole time. Lovely. Mike came back in and kicked over a cup of cheerios. Mariah came back to the love sac and dropped her bowl of ice cream. What a day.
By Tuesday, I knew I was not going to survive another day. Mariah was getting worse, not better, in the potty-training realm, and she hadn't held anything down since Thursday. (Today's actually the first day she's eaten and not thrown up). I finally came to grips with the fact that this 3 Day Potty Training thing just wasn't for her. When she woke up from her nap, I told her, "You know what, Sweetie? While you were sleeping, I found some more diapers. I'm putting all of your panties and your diapers in this bin. If you want to wear panties, get some panties out. If you want to wear a diaper, get a diaper." She immediately got a diaper and brought it to me. Sigh of relief.
So, we're both feeling much better today, and she's down for a nap . . . wearing panties?
