By George, She's Got It!

Well, she doesn't quite have it perfectly yet, but she's getting it! I have been trying to potty train Abigail for well over a year. It has been an ongoing saga in our home and an enormous struggle for everyone involved. On top of the expense and messiness of diapers, Abby would get horrendous rashes. She would scream during diaper changes because she was bleeding and raw even though I liberally applied diaper rash ointment and used the sensitive skin wipes. Thankfully, ever since her illness back in September she hasn't had another rash. I think the fact that she ate virtually nothing for almost a month broke the cycle of rashes she was in.

However, she still wasn't getting the hang of potty training. I have been setting the timer for every 20 minutes and putting her on the toilet (makes for a very unproductive and exhausting day/days). She would go every time I put her on, but still she would have accidents in between! We'd both get so frustrated that I'd quit for a while and try again in a few weeks or so, but it was always the same thing.

We have learned that sometimes Abby needs an enormous amount of repetition in order to "get" some things, so I decided I was going to have to somehow just keep at this until she got it. So I said a lot of prayers, and began again this month. I have been doing exactly the same thing only I haven't quit after a few days or a week of seemingly fruitless effort, but we just kept on doing the same thing day after day after day. It's been three weeks now, and something has finally clicked with her!! She has had several days of being accident free, and she at long last is thinking of it on her own without me having to tell her 30 times a day or more.

My house hasn't been cleaned well in three weeks (who can do anything when you're in the bathroom every 20 to 30 minutes?!), I have done mountains of laundry (I couldn't use Pull-ups since she wasn't distinguishing when she was wet), and Abby's poor little hands are painfully chapped from the frequent washings, but we see a light at the end of the tunnel. I am so proud of her, Daddy is so proud of her, and Ryan is proud of her too! And I can tell she is feeling pretty happy about it herself.

In fact, today was the first time ever in her three years and nine months of life that she has woke up dry! She even was able to stay dry for close to four hours this morning without being able to use the bathroom all that time (long story for another post)!