Day Six of “Just One Day” Potty-Training
Jul 10th, 2008 by susan
Keilani pooped in the potty today!
For all of you non-parents out there reading this, if you haven’t already done so you can safely and blissfully skip all of these “potty” posts! I certainly would have before I had kids of my own! Believe me, I never thought I would ever have this much to say about anyone’s pee and poop and when and how it happened in such abundant detail, EVER!
However, two lovely daughters later, here I am, completely immersed in both of their bodily functions on an almost minute-by-minute basis. “Did Malia have a poo?”, I ask my husband after he changes her diaper, wondering whether she is eating enough, feeling sick, and/or ready to start solids yet. “Is Keilani eating enough fruit?”, I wonder later, hoping that she isn’t too constipated to poop on the potty and resolving to feed her prunes for dinner just in case. Insanity!
But anyway, such is life and I digress… back to the poop-files!
So Keilani pooped on the potty this morning! She was a little afraid at first, but I cheered her on and she did wonderfully and was so proud of herself! I was VERY proud of her, too, and extraordinarily happy that the poop actually made it straight into the toilet without first making an appearance elsewhere in our house (I think I mentioned the incident on Mommy and Daddy’s bed in a previous post)!
The rest of the day passed without incident (all successes—yay!) until this evening, when she peed on our living room rug. We had just returned from a long car ride to downtown San Francisco and back to pick up Daddy from work, and about two minutes from home Malia decided she was ravenous and started crying in her carseat.
We raced home and made it in record-time and I rushed to grab Malia from the car and take her upstairs and nurse her, leaving Daddy to bring Keilani upstairs (which is no big deal, Keilani LOVES her Daddy!). However, this night was different—she wanted “Mommy Mommy MOOM-EEEEE!!!!” and I was in the middle of nursing Malia! I thought she might just be hungry and so shouted to her, “Mommy is on the couch in the living room, come on in and snuggle with me!” and she finally came in, sobbing the whole way—I couldn’t imagine what was wrong! She hadn’t mentioned “pee” or “poop” at all and I am embarrassed to say that I just didn’t think of it—I was immersed in nursing and just wasn’t thinking about that. (Maybe even parents can only fixate on one bodily function at a time!)
At that point she peed on the floor, crying for Mommy, my poor baby girl, and my heart just broke into little tiny pieces. OF COURSE she needed to pee, she had drunk about a quart of juice (yes, we let her have juice sometimes, I know, I know, bad parents) and water and had been holding it in for the entire car ride because she so desperately wants to be a “big girl” (like the girls and boys in that Potty Power video—I can’t tell you how afraid I am for “real” peer pressure when she goes to school!).
I of course immediately handed Malia to my husband and consoled and held (and cleaned up) Keilani, and I felt terrible, like I had let my baby down. We mothers are supposed to KNOW these things and I even THOUGHT as we were driving home that I needed to get her on the potty the instant we got home, but when Malia started crying it all went right out the window and I didn’t think of anything else except hurrying home to nurse her.
So, Keilani had one accident today, but I sort of feel responsible, even though I know that she needs to be the one to say “pee” or “poop” and to communicate what she needs to us, but still. Shouldn’t a mother just know these things? Shouldn’t I have just known???
Stay tuned for tomorrow’s installment….first day with the nanny! Will Keilani pee (or poop?) on the potty for our nanny? Tune in tomorrow to find out!
P.S. Is it too personal to publish this type of information on the Internet? Will Keilani read this one day and be angry or hurt or embarrassed that I posted this live for the world to see? I hereby reserve the right to edit or delete this posting at a later date if I still feel conflicted about this, and I hereby also reserve the right to publish lots of boastful posts about all of her many wondrous accomplishments (which will probably embarrass her even more, but that’s OK!).
In all seriousness, I think it helps parents sometimes to read the “gory details” of other parents’ struggles which is why I am posting all of these potty details. It’s all too easy on the playground to just talk in vague generalizations and of course to leave out the really tough parts, which you either edit out deliberately (sort of like the familiar “how are you?” “fine, thanks” exchange, this one goes something like, “how’s the potty training going?” “Oh, pretty good thanks, she’s doing great and only had one accident today!”). Or, sometimes you just honestly forget—nature is wonderful in that way in allowing us to forget past pain and struggles, but I think it can help others to hear about it sometimes (particularly if their expectations are for “Just One Day!” potty-training, LOL!)
