pee pee in the potty...please

question: how do you convince an 18 month old ball of energy to sit still long enough to use the potty?

answer: bribes, bubbles, tv, threats and begging. at least, that's what i've tried so far. we're into day two with the potty training and are maintaining a 50% success rate. that number, however, is a bit misleading about how well it seems to be going when you consider how long it takes to get that success and how much effort. let me paint you a picture.

after reading up on the different methods and discussing it with other mothers, i decided that the best way to approach this was to keep her entertained while she was sitting on the potty so that she'll not try to run away and she'll be relaxed enough to actually do it. then, after she's successful, she gets so much praise that she'll want to do it over and over again. good plan, right? and it started out well. i filled a mixng bowl with water and got the bubbles out. i showed her how to pull her training pants down and she sat on the potty. then we blew bubbles and played in the water until she peed. then the music played on the potty and i told her how good she was. she flushed the toilet and washed her hands, then i gave her a cookie. from start to finish, it took about 15 minutes. this worked twice in a row. so i figured "piece of cake", right? ah, but i underestimated my daughter's contrary nature (which i think she gets from her father). now that she knows what's expected of her on that potty, she refuses to comply. rather, she plays with the water (now splashing in it rather than playing with bubbles in it) and insists she's done on the potty after about 2 minutes. so we wrestle a bit and play some more and wrestle some more and play some more...for about 20 minutes before i finally let her up and put a new diaper on her. (it's hard not to give in when she wants up to give you hugs and sit on your lap..though that's dangerous since she has no diaper on at the time). then, two minutes later, she pees in her diaper. how do i know this? because it turns out that not only are training pants not as absorbant as diapers (so that the child feels wet and wants to get to the potty) but they also do not fit as well around noe's legs. so then I feel she's wet, as well...a feature not listed on the package, i might add. so, this afternoon (after two failed attempts this morning) i tried a new approach. i brought her potty into the living room and sat her down in front of baby einstien (which she LOVES) while on the potty. this worked in that she was willing to sit still for a long time. it failed in that she still didn't use th potty. i've noticed that she knows when she is about to pee because that is when she wants to stand up. so i kept putting her back down on the potty thinking she was about to pee. nothing happened. so i told her if she didn't sit on the potty, i was going to turn off the video. she sat back down. nothing happened. she lost interest in the tv and wanted up again. so i went and got the bowl of water and bubbles and tried to get her to play for a while. she lost interest in that pretty quick, too. so at about 12:15 today, you could have seen a squirming little girl with one cheek on the potty and the other hanging off, soaked from her fingers to her elbows and the entire front of her shirt; me on the floor in front of her in a puddle of sudsy water with the bubble wand sticking out of my mouth; a crying baby on the couch behind us not happy with the noise; and alternating threats and pleas to "pee pee in the potty!!". then i thought to try something my mom had told me a few months ago and dribbled a little of the water down her front...and the music played. YAY!! pee pee in the potty!! so she jumped off the potty, somewhat scared by the music, and hugged me and sat down in my lap. i was so happy with her that i didn't notice at first...apparently she wasn't finished. *sigh*

anyway, after putting her down for her nap and cleaning up the mess and changing my pants, i sat down to write this blog and feed mali. now i look at the clock and realize that in about two minutes, she's going to get up and we get to do this again. the fun never stops at the poons'.

and, as a side note (and i'll try to get a picture of this up, too) now that she knows how to take her training pants off, she does so at random moments. half the time, she has her butt hanging out while she runs around the house like a plumber. now that's funny.