Potty training gone wrong?

After the first child, one always has the great intentions to start potty-training MUCH earlier with the next one. That is a great plan. But it might not work....

... and here is why! I started to potty-train Peanut at or around six months. She did a few numbers on the potty and I thought that this might be alot easier than thought. I also thought, doing cloth diapers might help her to feel when she is wet. But it seemed not to bother her to be wet or dirty! Well, almost two years later, no success whatsoever! Which is so frustrating because I had all the good intentions. I guess that is not all you need for a successful potty-training experience.

My daughter is VERY stubborn. No, I am serious! If you don't know her personally, you have no idea of how stubborn she is. So it is to no surprise that she thinks she needs to have an opinion about things that are happening around her. Unfortunately, that includes potty-training. She keeps saying that she doesn't WANT to go to the potty.

And it is NOT because she can't - because she CAN! Oh, yes, she can. One day, I pull her out of the bath tub, dry her and send her to her room, thinking that Daddy will get her immediately to put the diaper on her. Well, I guess he was not as fast as I had hoped, because a minute later, my daughter stands next to me (back in the bathroom) and says she went pee. So you can just imagine my thought process: oh, no, she peed on the carpet! How do I get that out? With little hope, I asked her if she needed to go pottty and she said yes. Okay, been there, done that. On the potty she goes - and usually after about a minute she declares to be done, even though there is nothing in the toilet. Well, this time, sure enough, the moment she hit that seat, a waterfall of pee came out of her.... seriously! We clapped and put that diaper on. Then I checked her room, and there was ONE tiny drop of pee on the carpet, NOT a big deal at all!

So now you tell me, HOW much bladder control she has!!! SHE IS TOTALLY IN CONTROL here and I so don't know what to do about it. I have even tried to bribe her, but there is nothing really that would or could work with her. She doesn't care enough about anything to be bribed!

I thought and thought about it, what can I use to bribe her? What is important enough to her?
Oh, yes, her independence. So I took that away. I told her if she wanted to be a BIG girl, she needs to go potty. If she is not willing to do that, well then Mami is back in charge of dressing her! This actually seems to work - at least for now. So once a day, she is going pee - just so that she can dress herself! (hahaha)

Wish me luck with this....

So I want to add a funny story that involves her brother. I think it was last Friday, that she sat on the toilet for about fifteen minutes. No achievement. Coqui came in announcing that he needed to use the bathroom. He sat and after a minute, Peanut started to clap, saying "good job Coqui". So Coqui gives her that serious look and says: "Don't clap, I have been doing this for years!"

He is too funny!