Tales of Potty-Training Woe

There is nothing quite like the adventure of potty-training child #3 to test your patience, increase your laundry duties, and humble you. I would've thought I'd be a pro at this by now, able to dispense advice to other moms in the trenches of potty-traning their first.

Wrong-o!

I thought she #3 would be the easiest since she has two big sisters she can observe, is uber-verbal, and to be perfectly honest, because I am tired of buying diapers. Since numero uno was born, there has been a total of 16 months of being diaper-free. I have now officially been a mother for 112 months. I never wanted to have more than one kid in diapers at a time, and somehow, that all worked out in my favor. But as I sit here and add the numbers up, perhaps it would've been better that way, because this diaper phase wouldn't be so long and drawn out.

I anxiously awaited the moment that Jacey turned two, because then she could get on that potty, and we could be on our way to being a diaper-free home! Oh, silly me. Two-and-a-half came, the age at which her sisters showed the signs of being ready to potty train, and I got excited again. Once again, a fool I was. However, once we decided to take a vacation which involved driving to S. Carolina and then Disney World, we figured it would be in our best interest to not have a freshly potty-trained kid who would make that drive even longer. When vacation ended and her third birthday a month away, we decided to buckle down and get this kid in underwear permanently!

This Saturday was her first full-fledged day in underwear, and besides a couple minor accidents, it was a great potty-training day!

Yesterday, a lot more accidents, a lot more laundry, but it's just the beginning.

Today, as we both were at work, my mother-in-law had a great first two hours, and then it went downhill from there. Several pairs of underwear and two bottoms later... then once we got home, she still managed to pee in her closet. Sigh. But the bright side to that tale of potty-training woe is that we have hardwood floors. At the rate she's going, they are all going to be getting a thorough cleaning in the next few days... or weeks.

But I can see the light at the end of this diaper tunnel!