An Update

First off, I want to thank those of you who left your kind words of support and advice on the potty problem Sweetie is currently going through. It's so nice to get fresh perspectives from people who have been through this before and/or have unique ideas to make her feel more comfortable.

So, let's start out with the good points of the day, shall we?

Sweetie was pretty well behaved all day - happy, able to share, able to move from activity to activity without drama, and polite. This is impressive, especially considering we had such a long day with many stops - the gas station, the deli, my aunt's house, the pond/beach, the grocery store, and back home. Phew! We're all tired!

Now - the bad.

Sweetie peed in her potty at home at about 8:00 in the morning. Then - she refused every potty we encountered along the way and instead chose to pee in her pants 3 or 4 times while at the grocery store. (To my knowledge - that is, unless she peed in the pond, but Hubby doesn't think so - she managed to hold off on peeing until we got to the store after 3pm!).

I took her to the store's bathroom (a one-person potty very similar to any typical bathroom in a house) to change her out of her swimsuit and hopefully get her to go. But she refused again. I tried not to make a huge deal out of it, but when she peed in her underwear before we even left the bathroom, it really made me mad. But I didn't change her again. She chose to wet her pants, so she was going to have to live with it (which, by the way, she really didn't seem bothered by in the least).

10 or 15 minutes later, as she was singing and talking to herself in the back of our shopping cart, I decided to check the state of her pants again. This time, she was absolutely drenched! I mean, her entire shorts were sopping wet!

Well, I couldn't stand keeping her like that, so I took her back to the bathroom to put her back in her still-damp swim bottoms. But still, no potty action.

By the time we made it a few aisles further, her swim bottoms were wetter than just leftover dampness from the pond. And by the time she was standing with us in the check out line, I was noticing a nice puddle under her feet. Was that there before from something that spilled? Or was it her? Yeah - I think we all know the answer to that.

So, that was it. We headed for home. She sang for awhile and then slept for maybe a 1/2 hour. She woke up when we drove in our driveway and was upset - because she was still tired? Or because she REALLY had to pee? I'm not sure. But I took her inside, sat her right down on her little potty, and she peed. Ahhhhh. Relief!

The evening went on as normal. She didn't pee anymore at all, but that's pretty normal for her. Then Hubby took her to bed and read her her latest favorite Dr. Seuss Story - What Was I Scared Of?

Hmmmm, what a nice little opportunity to teach a lesson. My quick thinking Hubby was on the case!

In the story, the main character is afraid of some green pants without a body that he often finds out and about on his nightly walks. But in the end, he learns that the pants aren't scary at all and he and the pants become great friends. With this in mind, Hubby sums up the point of the story to Sweetie, telling her that the character thinks the pants are scary but then learns they're not scary at all.

Just like the potty, he went on. You think it's scary, but it's really not. When it flushes, it's not being scary, it's being friendly, saying, "Hi, have a nice day!" That's all.

Well, she seemed to like that. I was up in the room with them at this point, and so Hubby and I went on to give more examples:

Lions say "Hi, have a nice day!" when they roar. Kitties say it when they meow, Puppies say it when they bark!

And kids say "La, La, La, La, La" (a la The Wiggles) when they say in English "Have a nice day!", Sweetie excitedly added.

Right!

So - maybe we've hit upon something here. This, along with the fact that she was being more silly-afraid today instead of genuinely scared (dancing around while singing, I'm scared. I'm scared. I'm scared, I'm scared, I'm scared!) gives us a little hope that she can get past this.

And as far as her not caring about being so wet, we hope that's because she spent much of the afternoon in a wet swimsuit. So wet underwear wasn't much of a difference to her.

We will see. Here's hoping she turns the corner soon.