So I’m in the midst of potty-training. It’s not pretty and certainly not easy. Ana is just like me: smart, strong-willed, and likes to do things on her own terms. These are not the best of conditions in which to potty train. But here we are. Back when Ana was about 15-months-old she showed her first interest in potty training. I thought I got lucky and not only got a child who potty trained really early, but did it without any pushing from me.




(Back when we started potty training. Look at how TINY she is here!)

Buuuuut after a couple weeks of going in the potty a couple times a day, she lost interest. She got bored and didn’t want to do it anymore. At the time I understood she was still ahead of the curve and figured I would just try again in a couple months.

And that has been my strategy ever since.

Now here I am, 18 months later. Ana is almost three, still not potty trained, and I am ready to be DONE with it all. I have resorted to just about every strategy I could think of. We have done everything from the sticker chart to full out bribery. Things work for a day or two and then is no longer enough to motivate her. I’ve tried really hard not to compare her to other kids, but the more I see kids her age (or younger!) fully potty trained, the more it irritates me. I know Ana can do this. I know she’s smart enough and has the physical ability to do it, but she is simply being stubborn.

My case in point: the other day out of no where, Ana went upstairs to the bathroom, pulled down her princess Pull-Up (thank goodness she won’t wear anything other than dresses these days because she can’t pull her jeans down by herself yet), and peed in the potty. She yelled out to me, “Mama! I went pee-pee in the potty!” I was totally surprised and excited like you cannot believe. I was thinking about how everyone said she would just decide one day that she was ready to use the potty and that would be that. I was so happy she did it on her own! I had no idea it would come so soon!

I should have known…

Caught up in the excitement, I said, “Ana, I am so proud of you! You went potty all by yourself! Do you want to do that all the time now?”
To which she replied, “No. I just wanted to do it that one time.”
I was floored. “What?! Why not?”
And here is the kicker: she says to me, “I don’t want to, Mama. It was just too much work.”

I’d like to say this story has a happy ending, but that’s parenthood for ya and you all know that’s not always the case. We have good days and bad days. And I am still waiting on that day to come when she just realizes that she wants to be potty-trained. And not that it’s too much work…