Potty Training

                                                                                      July 9, 2026

Potty Training part 9,683 or close to it                          

Hello,

Let me start off with a simple friendly reminder, wash your booty and wear deodorant, it is still hot out. Mind, you, these are things that need to be done every day at least once.

We introduced SB to the potty around two years old. Nothing pressing, simply an introduction. Not that we expected her to catch on, more so to attempt to prevent giving her potty trauma.

We have been seriously working at it since she turned three. I am a bicentennial baby, meaning I recently turned Fifty. Keep that in mind as we go along.

SB has all of the gadgets, potty watch, books, stickers, treats, I have even resorted to bribery. In all of this time, I think she has only used the potty maybe three times since we first introduced her to the potty. Thinking back, the first two times were most likely accidental.

SB still has zero desire to potty train. I realize that she will do it when she is ready. Yesterday, we were diligent about it. Every thirty minutes to the potty. She refused to use it. Three hours had passed and still refused. I knew she had to go. She would sit on the potty for about ten seconds and get up. We have a small fortune in the special training pants. I decided to put a pull up on her after the three hours yesterday. She flooded it within minutes. OK, lesson learned on my part. Have you ever argued with a threenager? Not to mention a red-headed threenager. Yesterday when I asked her if she had to potty, she shook her little pointer finger at me and said no, no potty. I suppose I should have taken that as I was wasting my time. Karen tried again later in the day. Let me tell you, those special training pants, they more than leak, they flat make a mess. They are supposed to make children uncomfortable when they have accidents. Nope, not SB, they for sure made me uncomfortable as it never fails, she climbs up on me and wallers me which those special training pants immediately soak me. She is not phased by having wet pants.

Today we try again. I was on the phone with my friend Rubber Duck, her birthday is today, double nickels. I see SB doing what I thought was some gymnastic move. Then she was rubbing her hand on the floor. I asked if she had to potty, Ope. Her version of Nope. She went and grabbed her barbie car and was pushing it around the same area she was rubbing her hand around. You guessed it, she peed on the floor. Over the weekend, Karen caught her on the bed, she had taken her pull up off and was squatting. Thankfully she was caught before she used the bed as a bathroom. I was going to call that an accident, is it an accident when you take your pull up off and plop a squat? I am not entirely sure. SB can technically attend preschool in the fall; however, she has to be potty trained. I do not know if we were going to make it. I was determined that she would be potty trained by the end of summer. However, the gymnastic looking move and then driving her barbie car through it today, I need to rethink this. I seriously think that I have met my match in life. SB is so stubborn. She definitely marches to the beat of her own drum. I am beginning to wonder if SB and I will be in diapers together, remember, I am a bicentennial baby. I am already at the stage of well, I am already here, may as well go to the bathroom.

Let me tell you what else she has discovered. So initially when SB first started talking, she called me TT. Then she switched to mama, she has graduated to her version of my name,…… Oooff. I can without a doubt tell when she is frustrated with me. Her speech is coming along but I cannot understand every single word. When I do not understand I will say what did you say? She will keep repeating the same phrase over and over again, louder and louder and eventually using her version of my name. When I do understand her or she is trying to get my attention, she will say baaaaeee. I hope you all sounded that out. I suppose that it is a good thing that she knows my name. I could appreciate a different tone when she says it.

                                                                                      July 28, 2026

Still TRYING to potty train episode 10,763

This portion may skip around a bit, totally fine, that is my life!!

SB has taken herself to the potty twice in the last 19 days. Is it a win? Well, I am not sure. She is so darn smart.

Let’s start with last Monday. We decide to go to pick some blueberries. We were directed to the location to pick. I do not know if I have ever picked a blueberry in my life. I am not even sure I like blueberries; I like blueberry flavor, the texture of the actual berry, not so much. SB and Karen had gone the week before. Ol’ SB, in all of her wisdom, she is very comfortable as she has done this before. She got her kid sized pail, honestly, I thought my pail was also kid sized. I thought for sure I would have that full in about 10 minutes. Wow, was I wrong. I could not stay where we were directed. I found myself roaming trying to find the biggest berries. They were far and few between. SB and Karen were still within eyesight. SB was running back and forth between us. I hear Karen raise her voice; this is highly unusual. I glance down that way; she is shaking her head. Must not have been too serious as she is not flailing her arms around or running like a mad woman. I continue about my task, finding the biggest berries. I am not sure how much time had passed, here comes SB, she looks like a hot mess. Her and Karen had gone and got ice cream, I am not sure what all transpired, but it appeared to me as SB’s shirt sopped up more ice cream than SB ate. My pail finally got full, Karen and SB had some technical difficulties with their berry acquisition. SB dumped Karen’s pail, SB had lost her pail. SB is not phased by the fact she no longer has a pail. I understand that she is three, losing her pail I suppose was to be expected. However, it is also a teachable moment. Off SB and I go to attempt to find her pail. She is upset with me as she wants to go do who knows what. I am holding her hand and telling her that you have to take care of things, especially when someone loans you something. In true toddler fashion, she does not care at all what I am saying. We walked all over and could not find the pail. Karen, however, went back out and was able to locate the pail. We get in the vehicle, and Karen asked me if I had seen what SB had done. I almost feel as if this is a trick question, I think about this question and answer carefully; umm, noooo. She said SB has apparently seen me one too many times. Let me just say, I am not about to pee my pants. How am I going to go to the Dr. and say I have diaper rash?? When my brain realizes that my bladder is full, it becomes an emergency situation. Maybe I am not always afforded the opportunity to locate a restroom, you fill in the rest, I have no shame in my game. Karen then told me that she looked down and SB had her britches as well as her pull-up and was attempting to squat right there in the blueberry patch. I absolutely would not do that. I look back at SB, obviously she has no care in the world that I feel as if I am in the principal’s office, the wooden paddle with holes in it is out on the principal’s desk. I asked if she went. Karen said absolutely not, I hurried and got her up. I said my goodness, we are trying to potty train, you should have let her. Oh boy, the principal is reaching for that wooden paddle with the holes in it. Wrong answer.

Fast forward to yesterday morning. I had woken up around 7. I was simply enjoying the quiet time. I am not sure what time it was, but SB woke up and was whining. She did not want to get up,  I say OK, I will come lay with you. We are watching Alvin and the chipmunks. I think to myself wow, I am really cold. I think this several times throughout the time I am laying with SB. She then decides she is ready to get up. I get out from under her cover and realize holy crap, she urinated all over me. We were both in a “pissy” situation. I get us both cleaned up, Karen took care of the bedding. A bit later, here came SB from playing. She walks into the kitchen, pulls her pants and pull up down and say’s no diaper, she gets her clothing off and puts on her training pants. This is super exciting for me, I think wow, she is finally ready. A few minutes later, I ask if she wants to potty, nooooooo, no potty. A few more minutes later, I ask again, noooooo, no potty. I wait a few more minutes and ask again, no, no potty! I say listen sister, it does not work like that. You wear big girl’s underwear; you have to potty. She looks me dead in the eye and says no, no potty. I say yes, let’s go potty. Foot stomping toddler in tow, we go to the potty. I encourage her to potty; she adamantly tells me no potty. We try for about 5 minutes, and I tell her she can go play but she has to tell me if she has to potty. I am not even sure a minute had passed, she for sure wet her training pants. Come on, let’s go get you cleaned up again. Of course I ask her, not expecting any type of response, why didn’t you tell me you had to potty? She quickly says no potty. We had to leave, we cannot get even close to using the potty on a regular basis at home, we for sure cannot test this out away from home. She absolutely does not want a diaper on, nooo diaper. I am not falling for this again, I am not going to argue with a toddler this time. Diaper it is. She mean mugged me for quite some time.

Back up to a few days ago. We were all outside, I was sitting on my little stool. SB had one of those kiddie bottles that are way overpriced with juice in it and some cartoon characters as the part where the liquid comes out. I had gotten up for a second, I do not remember for what, it was literally a second. I do not make it all the way to the stool before I feel this  painful sensation in my derriere. SB had sat that dang overpriced juice container right on my little stool. First of all, I was unaware that I could move that fast. I am holding my breath, all while wincing and giving myself a talk; don’t cuss, don’t cuss, no bad words, don’t speak, you will cuss, don’t do it. To say it was uncomfortable would be a lie. It was flat painful. I manage to open my tightly clenched eyes, (you thought I was going to say something else lol). SB was laughing, literally laughing. Deep breaths, deep breaths, don’t speak. I finally think I can speak responsibly now. SB has already moved onto something else. I asked SB why did you sit your juice jug there? I swear, she had a smirk on her face. I could not say anything else, this fell into the category of “don’t hate the player, hate the game”. A toddler got me good; I cannot even be mad. Karen also thought this was pretty funny. I was not laughing at all. SB is for sure a mini me!

I could probably write a book from SB shenanigans. This evening, she walked in the entry to the living room, she had been in the laundry room with Karen. SB is staring me down. I said do you need something? No response, just staring, all of a sudden, she stomps her tiny barefoot on the floor and says NO MA’AM. I asked what did you say? She repeated the entire thing, foot slap on the floor and all. I said no ma’am, you do not tell me no ma’am. I realized that this was not the best response, she once again stomped her foot and told me no ma’am again. Yes, I taught her no ma’am. I have said it to her since the day she arrived in my home as a tiny baby. Any time she did something that she should not, I have always said no ma’am.

She has a huge sand area in the back yard. Karen got her a tonka truck the other day because she was playing with one somewhere they went and Karen said she had a ball. She has plenty of her own sand to haul around in this tonka truck. I can see her pushing this back and forth from up by the house to her sand pit, multiple times. She had been hauling off my sand and relocating it in her sand pit. My sand was not meant for her sand pit; she has tons of sand of her own sand. She hauled herself a nice little pile of sand, I said no ma’am, take that back, she said no no, I said yes yes, every load she took back, she would wait to see if I would make her take another load. No way sister, you’re not getting my sand.

SB is in the stage of wanting to be super helpful. Her and Karen go out every night and water the garden. SB is like a little sponge, except when it comes to the potty training. The other night, Karen walked out to the living room long after she had gone to bed, she opened the utility room door and put outdoor shoes on. I asked where she was going, she said the dang pump keeps kicking on and off. I said you don’t think SB turned the water on do you? She said, “I hope not that means it has been on for hours.” Well, when Karen did not come right back inside, I knew SB had turned it on. Karen finally comes back in, she said the garden is flooded. Oh boy, do not laugh, do not laugh, you will be in so much trouble if you laugh. Karen said she was with her the entire time, and she never seen SB go over by the water spigot. I could not help it, I laughed. Karen said it is not funny. I totally understand why it is not funny to Karen; she has a lot of time and effort in the garden. However, from my perspective it is extremely funny.

Moral of the stories: When raising little's, in the beginning, it seems like it is so hard teaching a child anything. Obviously, they learn. They do not always put it all together, but they listen and observe every tiny action and reaction we as adults routinely perform. I often watch SB sleep and pray that the good Lord will guide me to raise her right. Especially with this potty training, I sometimes feel like a failure. I am not sure why, when she is done messing around, she will get it. Her random desire to go potty by herself assures me that she is messing with us. I have a slew of tales with SB that remind me that I am getting it right. SB is very independent; she wants to do everything on her own. She of course cannot do everything on her own and I am well aware of her limits. I cannot even begin to count how many times a day I have to get down to her level and talk to her and teach her to not get angry when she cannot figure something out. When something does not go right, she wants to throw whatever it is, boy can I relate. I take the time to show her how to work through the frustration, I need to teach myself that now that I think about it. Anyway, we work through it together. She is fiery, independent, and mischievous, helpful, kindhearted and loving. In those moments while I watch her sleep, I count my blessings and I thank God for trusting me with his most precious gift, a child. I would not trade a single second of time with SB for all of the money in the world. I have found all of the happiness I will ever need in this little human. I am not sure how long I can hold onto the innocence of sweet SB. There will come a time that it will not always be me that she looks to me for comfort when she is sad, scared, or hurt. The time will come that she will not run up to me when she is excited. I also know with every fiber of my being that there will never be a time that I will not want to rewind the hands of time to experience the little moments just a little longer. Time is such a thief. The road is not always smooth, the rough parts fade quickly. In closing, hold onto every single moment, teach your children the basic fundamentals of life, love even if someone does not show you love, kindness especially when someone is not being kind, compassion when you have not been given compassion and forgiveness when you have not been forgiven. Lead by example! Toodle-loo