Lessons from Pottyland

I think one of the most wonderful, and daunting, things about parenting is how it constantly demands that you adapt, become resourceful, take a different approach when things don't work out.  And you must step up to the mark with this, the stakes are just too high to just shrug and go 'ho hum that's the way things are'.  I am so grateful for this as I have to own up to having fallen prey in the past to the evils of whingeing and moaning about something in my life that was not working out. And then not doing a damn thing about it.  So now I remind myself to take a step back and consider, so what else can I try?  How can I do things slightly different that might just shift things a little?

I'm getting lost in preamble here, but this spot of reflection relates to potty training. Yesterday it wasnt working out for us.  There was wee and poo on the floor yet again and Boo didn't even seem to acknowledge that anything had even happened!  Cue one frustrated mama, longing to just sling a nappy on that bare bot and be done with the mopping up, she's obviously never ever ever going to get it and clearly won't be able to ever get a job because she she still won't be 'clean and dry' as they say!  We've done stickers, we've done songs galore, we've 'done it together', Granny's been on the case, we've read countless books, I've tried physically dumping a struggling Boo on the potty.  Still she wees on her toys and resists pottytime.  

But I  don't sling on a nappy.  I have determined today as a 'let's stay at home and do some potty training' day.  Clearly I've been putting everything into it.  Or have it?  Actually, I realise on reflection, I've been wandering off, sometimes literally, things to do, bathrooms to clean, sometimes I'm just not present, caught up in the 'monkey mind' in my head.  The reason she's not doing it is because I'm not doing it, I'm simply not being there for her.  She needs my constant vigilance, my presence, and my patience.  So I position myself near to her and determine to 'be there' for however long it takes.  A little while later there is a bit of poo on the floor.  With a sing song, I promptly scoop her up and plop her onto the pot, whereupon she does her 'trying' noises and face, and we are thrilled to see a good 'deposit' in the potty!  There are high fives and we are both buoyed up by this success but I know its a long road.  Some time later, I see that Boo has positioned herself on the potty, not, it seems to do anything (she still doesn't seem to know when its coming) but just to hang out there.  I'll be reminding myself to slow down and be there in the coming days and weeks but I'm beginning to trust that we won't be sourcing adult-sized nappies after all!