I waved good-bye to pee-pee the other day as it swirled down the drain. And I was surprisingly sincere about it.
My husband decided last week that Sam's gotta catch up with this potty-training thing. So he switched our tactic. Now, when she's in the house, Sam doesn't wear diapers (unless she's sleeping). She wears underwear, but no pants because having long pants on seems to make her forget she's not wearing a diaper. And wherever Sam goes in the house, the potty goes.
Since we've started this, I've cleaned pee-pee off my floor twice. I've clapped and hugged her four times for actually going on the potty. And I've watched her sit on the potty in vain about 20 times.
Do I like this new tactic? I'm not sure, but I know we've got to stick with it now. Sam doesn't seem to be too bothered by it. As I've said, she's really never cared about wearing a dirty diaper. It is rewarding, however, to see her make some progress.
I think I'm struggling with this because it's the one area so far where I've felt completely incompetent. I've never trained someone else how to control going to the bathroom. I've never even trained a puppy to do that, for goodness' sake. Everything else -- feeding her, changing her diapers, rocking her to sleep, singing songs, teaching letters and numbers and shapes, dealing with temper tantrums -- I've felt fairly qualified to do.
This? I'm at a loss. I've got no prior knowledge to draw on.
What do you have trouble teaching your kids? What makes you feel inadequate or nervous to teach them?
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