Monday, December 17, 2007

Rhetta's Potty Saga

Oh what we have been through since I said she was potty trained which was when? in July, I think. Over the summer this year, at any rate.

She has been through so many stages and habits. First off we "ran out of Pull-ups" and told her that was it, she had to wear panties from then on. She totally accepted that and did great! She was not having any accidents and was even getting up in the middle of the night out of the family bed to go.

Then we went camping with my dad. I took the little potty with us and there is a big potty where we camp. She refused to use either of them and stayed in the car until I consented to driving her and the little potty back home and putting it on the bathroom floor where it belongs and lives to this day having never ever been used. She poo'ed in the big potty and we went back to camping. She still wouldn't use the potty there though. She ended up so frustrated she decided it best to pee in the driver's seat of my car or outside the door of the car if she couldn't get in. Poor thing! I was so upset at the timing of her pottying and the camping. I was seriously trying to not make her anal retentive and not have a traumatic time of it. I did the best I could but she was obviously changed.

After we came home the following day she started having accidents because she was holding it for so long and not sure what to do anymore. I have heard to just deal with the messes and keep going so we did that, not making a big deal out of it and I used a soothing voice, etc. But we had to start putting something on her at night, a cloth diaper (thank you again, Kara!) which she eventually got used to but wanted to wear all day long. That wasn't difficult to switch, though, so she went to wearing panties all day and having no accidents. But, she insisted on changing her panties every time she went potty. I was washing panties every day just to keep up! I bought her more panties so I wouldn't have to wash them but every other day. LOL

This went on for awhile until she started preschool. I was anticipating trouble but she not only did not get fully undressed to go she also sat facing forward with a little help from her Paraprofessional and had no accidents. But she would come home and resume her changing panties every time routine.

Okay, so she's staying dry and that's all I care about, but she decides the cloth diapers aren't what she wants and insists on going to bed with panties on. No biggie, we just wait until she goes to sleep and put the cloth diaper on her, right? Right! Why then did she have to find our leftover stash of Pull-ups?

Back to Pull-ups at bedtime. This I can handle. They are covered by Medicaid, no problem. This went on for a couple of months with a Pull-up at night, waking up dry and going through 5 or 6 dry pairs of panties throughout the day.

Accidents started happening at school. She has that Little Tykes red and yellow car she loves so much in the play yard there and one day had to go terribly bad. No amount of coaxing from her Para or her teacher would get her out of that car until she was sitting in a puddle and screaming. Poor thing! That started a series of accidents at school, mostly during the last half hour, music time, when she would refuse to leave the music room.

In the midst of trying to figure out how to deal with this new development we went on a road trip to Denver, and then on to Kansas and back for Thanksgiving. (Can you tell we're nearing the end of this saga?) We put her in a Pull-up to ride in the car and stopped every 1.5-2 hours to nurse, stretch, gas up, or snack... and potty. She was dry every time and lo and behold! she went every time I took her in and did it just right with her pants around her ankles, shoes on and facing forward. With all the changes on that trip, sleeping at Beth's house, a motel, going to the Aquarium, riding hundreds of miles, braving snow storms and all manner of different potty situations, not one. single. accident. Not one! Woo!, right?

Wrong! We came home sick! She was sick for that whole week after getting back and it really threw her off. She insisted on Pull-ups all day and all night, no substitutions. The good news was, after that week she was waking up dry. A few days later she was still waking up dry and also keeping them dry during the day, using them like panties but was adament about not wearing panties. Fine. Whatever!

Yesterday we ran out of Pull-ups for real. Not a stash in the house (there are four in the diaper bag in the car but I'm not telling her that.) She searched high and low last night and satisfied there are no more Pull-ups marched into her room and put on a pair of panties. Six months later and we are back to square one. She woke up dry this morning but also had gone to sleep early and skipped supper, didn't have much to drink either, so we'll see!

Hugs are welcome. Laugh if you want. It has been a crazy ride. But I am proud of my girl.

No comments: