Potty Training Failure, a Deux

We decided to try our second attempt at potty training today. After a previous failed attempt back in early Dec, which started well, but ended up with three accidents (on the tile floors at least), not a single drop in the potty and ending with screams of "no more potty!" we decided it she wasn't ready.

We started with a ridiculous video (I gotta go) of kids dancing and singing about going to the potty. I found it slightly nauseating, but Natalie loved it. Was singing along and dancing in her chair. So as one does when one is a parent, I sucked it up and pretended I loved it as much as she did. The Academy would have been proud.

She got a special treat of chocolate milk and banana bread with peanut butter this morning, to encourage lots of drinking. I've read this is the thing to do to... fill them up with sweet liquid treats they don't normally get and there will be lots of opportunity to train. Makes sense, right? Wrong. We then sat on the potty for about 20 minutes, reading potty books and talking about how exciting it was to be a big girl. I even pulled out the big guns, the Dora underpants. I told her once she peed on the potty for the first time, she would get to wear them. This was one thing I learned from the first attempt, when I put her in big girl underpants right away and went through three pairs before halting the training. This time, no Dora underpants until at least one successful go in the potty.

She wanted to put them on immediately. So instead, we read about 10 potty books, including a bunch of new ones from the library. I continued to ask her if she needed to go. She kept saying in five minutes. I left the bathroom for a few minutes in case she was getting stage fright. When I came back, she said she thought she should put her diapers back on. I again pointed to the coveted underpants, but she said no. And then proceeded to immediately pee in her diaper. And that is when we stopped. If she's turning down the Dora underpants, it ain't gonna happen.

Sigh. I know you're not supposed to compare your child to other kids, but come on, we all do a little bit. It's just frustrating to know so many of her little friends who are a few months younger are already trained. She gets the concept, can talk about it but just isn't interested. We want to start her in Montessori preschool this summer, but guess what, you've got to be potty trained. So that gives us a little over four months. We'll see. Can I just say, that I love being a parent and adore my little girl, but this is one aspect of parenting I am admittedly not enjoying. So if you have any tips, please comment on them for me now!