Rebekah loves being outside & she spent most of the day yesterday playing naked in the yard. She even managed a wee in the potty!!! She was very proud! I'm not actually potty training her but she'd woken up with a sore bum so given the heat I thought I'd let her not wear anything & told her to use the potty if she needed it. We've done it once before & she managed a wee after a little accident first. Yesterday my mother-in-law was visiting & we both kept asking her if she needed a wee... It had been hours. She kept saying no then I found the key... "Rebekah" I said "if you do a wee on the potty you can have some chocolate". That was all it took. A couple of minutes later she came running into the kitchen "I did it! I did it!... Chocolate?" After ensuring she was definitely going to get some chocolate she strode around the house telling me & her Granny repeatedly "I did a wee on the potty!!"
You might wonder why I'm not potty training her properly yet... Do you want the honest answer? Ok, I'm dreading it!!! I'm terrified! I don't have the first clue how to do it & I think maybe I'm scared of us both failing at it!! A few people I know have said it's the biggest parenting challenge they've had so far! The thought of all the accidents, weeing on the floor, in her clothes etc. The tears when she's embarrassed cos she's wet. The poo!! She's cloth bummed anyway so you may wonder what the difference is between a cloth nappy full of poo & a pair of knickers full of poo. I don't know, but it's just different!! I'm not entirely convinced she knows when she needs to poo. She never says anything about weeing or pooing. I've been surprised both times she's used the potty.
My 2 other excuses (the ones I tell myself & other people all the time) are: 1) She's not ready & 2) I've been told you shouldn't potty train with in 3 months of a major event in a toddlers life... i.e. a new baby sister. Grace will be 3 months old in 2 weeks (eek where does the time go?) so I guess I can't use that excuse for much longer.
As for not being ready... Who knows? How can you tell if a child's ready to potty train? Some people say "you just do" (that's not much use by the way!) others say the child will tell you. Rebekah's done neither & apart from 2 wees on the potty she never talks about needing the toilet. In fact I've just had to stop her as she prepared to poo on the carpet. She now says she doesn't need 'to go' when I've pointed to the potty. ARGH!!! Maybe I'll speak to the health visitor when we go for Graces vaccinations next week. I'm not too worried about it. I was 3 1/2 when I potty trained. In fact my sister (who's 20 months younger) was out of nappies before me!!
Does anyone have any advice? It's all welcome! This parenting lark is complicated!!
