Days 7, 8, 9, and 10 of “Just One Day” Potty-Training
Jul 15th, 2008 by susan
Day 7
In short, no, Keilani did not pee for our nanny on Day 7 of potty-training. She sat on the potty with our nanny at the playground three times before leaving to come home but didn’t go…until she went in her pants while standing on the back of the stroller on the way home. Our nanny asked her if she wanted to go at home and she said yes, but she just didn’t make it… shoot! Oh well, maybe next time! The rest of Day 7 passed uneventfully, although she did have two more accidents. Argh! Maybe she is just not ready? Or maybe it does take time to learn? It’s so hard to tell!
Day 8
On Day 8 we ventured out to Santana Row in San Jose where they purported to celebrate “Bastille Day”:
“Vive la France” et “Vive la Tradition Française” at Left Bank Brasserie with fun and games for both adults and children: a live Poodle Parade, classic French clowns and jugglers to entertain and awe, Parisian swing bands, accordion players, Pétanque on the lawn, special menus inspired by and dedicated to the Revolution, a “Storming of the Bastille”, pastis tastings and even appearances of Marie-Antoinette herself!
Sounds pretty fun, doesn’t it? Unfortunately, the clown who made balloon animals for children had seen better days…his trusty balloon bag carried only one color of balloon and he must have just completed clown school as he knew how to make only one kind of balloon animal:
Clown to parent, spoken in your best fake French accent: “vuht ahneemul vould your leetle geerl like today?”
Parent: “Um, how about a cat?”
Clown: “How about a dog?” (<– note the sudden lack of French accent)
Child: “NO! I want a CAT!”
Clown, embarrassed, twisting balloon: “Um, OK, here you go!” (as one balloon leg of the dog pops) “It’s a CAT!”
Child: “That’s not a CAT! That’s a DOG!”
Parent, just wanting to get out of there: “Um, thank the nice clown for your balloon, honey”
But I digress…apart from the zaniness of the broken-down-carnival atmosphere of “Bastille Day” and the craziness of the upscale “live to shop!” exuberance of Santana Row itself, which is worth a whole ‘nother post in and of itself, we had a great time and Keilani did pretty OK with the potty. (Which is supposed to be what this post is about, anyway!) 
She peed in the public potty on her Sesame Street Toilet Seat
It was here where Keilani broke down… she was having so much fun playing with Daddy that despite repeated questioning and prompts from Daddy she peed through her pants and onto the playground structure! When asked later WHY she didn’t pee in the potty she said that she was “having too much fun playing”. Well, that one we could fix…we told her that the next time she was playing and peed in her pants because she didn’t want to stop we would leave the playground immediately, but if she stopped playing just long enough to pee in the potty, we would stay and keep playing. We thought this sank in and made sense, but just minutes later she pooped in her pants! Sigh. She had only pooped successfully on the potty once before, so we didn’t know if this time was just because she didn’t want to stop playing and poop or because she wasn’t really making the connection yet between having to poop and being able to make it to a potty on time. As we had already been there over an hour, however, we left anyway, doubting this whole potty-training thing immensely and pretty much deciding that she must not be ready.
Day 9
However, Day 9 brought a 3-year-old’s birthday party and a MUCH better day with the potty for Keilani! She peed successfully several times in the morning before leaving for the party, a few more times on our portable Potette travel potty seat
Day 10
After more than a week of questioning and second-guessing ourselves and wondering if it was maybe just the wrong time or if Keilani simply wasn’t ready yet…
KEILANI HAD AN ACCIDENT-FREE DAY *AND* POOPED SUCCESSFULLY ON THE POTTY *AND* PEED ON THE POTTY IN A PUBLIC BATHROOM FOR OUR NANNY!!!!
We were absolutely amazed, thrilled, happy, and oh-so-proud of her! Could it be that all of that Potty Power
Whatever the case, we are excited and very relieved that we didn’t throw in the towel earlier (and believe me, there were many times when we wanted to!) and go back to diapers! Stay tuned for Day 11…. will Keilani have another accident-free day? Was Day 10 just a fluke???
