Potty Training...really?!

One of the reasons I am doing a blog is so I can document the girls' lives. I am also going to {eventually} publish the blog into a book for them to have as a modern day scrapbook. And as the girls read through this blog (because I just know they will read every single word) they will discover that I am a planner. And if they are planners they will know they got it from me. 

That being said, and since I am a planner I have planned how the next few major milestones in Landry's life will play out...just as I planned out Ashton's.  I know when I want  the "Bink Fairy" to come (August), I know when the best time to try potty training will be (November), I know when the best time to put her in a big girl bed will be (summer 2011), etc.

Leave it to my children to totally throw the plans I make in my face!  Landry clearly has her OWN plans and they are different from mine. 

You see, I knew I wanted Landry's pacifier to be gone by the time she turns three. I knew this would be EXTREMELY difficult for her which in turn means it would be rather difficult for us.  She LOVES her Bink and when I say LOVES, I mean really and truly loves it!

Since just after she turned one, the Bink has lived in her bed...she only gets it at nap time and bedtime.She has been known to "sneak" it. She has to get her "fix".   Here is a list of things that reassured us just how much she loves her Bink and what lengths she will go to:

*She will hide it in her blankie and carry it  around and when she thinks no one is watching, she will start sucking away.

*She will suck on it and walk around with her blanket on her head...you know if you she can't see you then you can't possibly see her.

*She will also come into a room and say to us "Don't look at me...kay.  You don't watch me."

*She has also gone into her room and grabbed her Bink out of her crib (if it is within arm's reach) and take a few sucks then put it back before she gets caught. 

I haven't completely lost my marbles...I know the title of this post is "Potty Training....really?!" There is a reason for the blabbering on about Landry's Bink. My plan was that the Bink needed to be gone this summer before she and Ashton went back to school. I knew we would have many nights of Landry throwing a fit at bedtime and screaming...and since their rooms are right next door to each other, I couldn't have Landry keeping Ashton up during school. 

So...I had it all planned out.  I am not crazy enough to take her Bink away before our vacation...that is just plain mean for us and for her.  We decided to wait until after we got back from our vacation and everyone was back on a normal routine, so we gave it a couple of weeks. I also knew timing wise, I would want the Bink Fairy to come after swimming lessons and My Gym for the week. According to my plan, the Bink Fairy would come on Wednesday night and that would give us 7 nights to "adjust" before we had to be back at swimming lessons and My Gym the next week.  Not to mention Ashton doesn't start school for 3 weeks and Landry starts in 4 so that is plenty of time for everyone to be well  adjusted....good planning right!?

Well, here is where my darling youngest daughter threw a wrench into my plans.  This morning after she woke up, I was getting ready to change her diaper and she said to me, "Mommy, I not wanna wear my diaper, I wanna wear panties."   This isn't unusual, she likes to wear panties over her diaper so I thought that is what she meant. Nope. She got VERY upset when I tried to put her diaper on. (I didn't think this would last long so I let her do it.) 

She picked out some panties and was happy as can be to wear them.  After she kept them on for a while, I decided I probably needed to make a "panty run" and get some of the thicker Gerber panties. Landry was so cute when we got to Target, I also let her pick out a pack of panties all by herself. She chose Princess panties and was so tickled. Also on the list of potty training necessities was a bag of special "Potty M&Ms" and Clorox wipes. We were set for potty training.  I was totally prepared for this to fizzle out and I would continue my plan to potty train over Thanksgiving Break when we had a week of not needing to be anywhere.  Plus, I knew she wasn't ready yet.

It didn't fizzle out. She wore a thick pair of training panties and a pair of Princess panties that she chose over...so two pair of panties. (It was torture for her to wait for me to get the new panties washed so she could wear them).  She actually did a pretty good job. We spent our day running to the potty every 10 minutes and lots of time sitting on the potty reading books.

How cute is that little two year old body in Big Girl panties?

The new panties all washed and ready for Potty Training Attempt #1

Bless her heart, we would sit on the potty for 20 minutes at a time and she wouldn't do anything and then as soon as she got up, she would tee-tee in her panties. This just proved my thinking she isn't quite ready. I also decided I am not  in any hurry so we will let her do it as she wants.

So  I guess since we are going to try potty training NOW, I can't very well have the Bink Fairy come visit her on Wednesday (like in two days) as originally planned.

We shall see how potty training with Landry goes.  For documentation's sake, Ashton did the same thing. I was teaching and decided that when school was out in June we were going to have "Potty Training Boot Camp" because I wanted her potty trained by the time she was three.  But to our surprise, in May she one day decided she wanted to wear panties and use the big girl potty and that was that. In a week, she was potty trained with no accidents.

Hopefully Landry will be this easy, but I am realistic in knowing that the second child is never like the first so I am totally prepared to have a more difficult time the second time around.