But I have to go potty!

I feel much like I did when Emma was a baby and on a sleepless schedule. Except now that she is going on 3 there are certain elements added to the scenario that truly are turning my hair grayer faster and making me feel a wee bit insane.

1) Crankiness from not sleeping well. As an infant the crankiness meant crying. Only crying. No one likes a crying baby, but when you compare it with a screaming, throwing, thrashing, arguing, inconsolable 2.75 year old I am not sure which is worse. The time out chair has been used way more frequently lately than in any other period of the terrible twos.

2) Feeling the urge to use the potty. I read somewhere that potty time should not interfere with sleep although it does tend to because trainees start to use the potty as an excuse for everything. Boy have we seen that! Before nap and bedtime she will say, I have to use the potty. Today, that happened successfully both times! yay! But then at bedtime it turned into a game of how-many-times-can-I-come-out-of-my-room-before-falling-asleep?! The answer is really astronomical. I have taken to sitting out in the hallway, but it turns out she can see me from under the door, and the minute that I get up (because she is quiet for a goodly amount of time) she jumps up, opens the door and makes a beeline for the bathroom. Thankfully tonight I learned my lesson and only went as far as my bedroom so she never had a chance to make it to the bathroom, pull off her diaper and sit on the potty. I also instituted "Emma's Sleep Rules: at bedtime we..." There are 5 rules only and we read them through before I kissed her good night. Perhaps one of the reasons for the ineffectiveness of this evening is due to the poor wording of number one: Stay in bed. Emma does not have a bed and will not sleep on the mattress on the floor. Maybe it should read, " stay in one place on the floor." One of the rules states that going potty will happen only once after we say goodnight. That also didn't stop Emma from telling me many times tonight as I silently herded her back to her room, "But I have to go potty!"

I really want her to learn to use the potty, but she also needs sleep. Did I mention that she has been super cranky this past week? Plus in my reading about potty training I have heard that learning to use the potty during sleep is the hardest part. Since she still hasn't mastered the art of using the potty during the day, I don't really expect her to magically stop peeing at night in her diaper. Plus, even if she dribbles on the potty 3 times before actually falling asleep (as happened last night due to my absence from the near vicinity for a short period of time) she still manages to have a very wet diaper by morning. Have I justified myself yet?

3) Steve is not home this week. That just about covers it.

To not focus entirely on the negative...
Today Emma and I went to visit the preschool again. This time she started peeking in at a girl who was using the potty. The teacher asked Emma if she wanted to see their potties and Emma said yes and got a tour. They have the kind of potty where the smaller seat fits on the toilet- Emma' has her own separate potty chair at home. Then later, the teacher asked Emma if she wanted to use the potty and if she wanted the teacher to help her. Emma said yes and then promptly ran away. From across the room she answered no when asked if she wanted to use the potty. (I know that you are intensely curious as to whether or not Emma wet her special undies or soiled the floor at the preschool. The answer is neither. Emma kept her undies dry and peed a whole gallon once we got home and had lunch. Wow!)

After waking up from her nap this afternoon, Emma sat on the potty but nothing happened. So she put on her special undies and we went to the library and also stopped to pick up our CSA box of veggies. When we got home, she used the potty and her undies were dry! Super cool!

Special undies: two pairs of underwear from Nanie and Papa that are sewed together with half of a very old diaper folded up in between. As Steve would say, you have to love DIY projects.