Potty Training, Take 2

Over the last couple of weeks, Chloe has been exhibiting some strange signs whenever we try to change her diaper. She began to seem really scared of the whole process, and would cry inconsolably until the changing was over. At first, we just thought that she was a bit afraid of the height of her changing table, so we started changing her on the sofa or other places. But the crying persisted, and in fact got steadily worse. She just became unreasonably upset nearly every time we needed to change her diaper.

As John and I were racking our brains to think of what could possibly be the matter, the most plausible solution we came up with was this: since Chloe had already experienced some potty training, she knew that she should not make her panties wet/dirty. But, since she wasn't wearing panties, only diapers, she wasn't sure what to do and felt a bit uncertain. She then got used to releasing in her diapers again, kind of forgetting about it, but whenever we changed her diapers she was reminded of her uncertainty and fears that she didn't do the right thing.

Timing-wise, this is a terrible time to start potty-training again. My "window of opportunity" had passed and now we are only a few weeks away from traveling for the new baby, this last week was unusually busy for John and we had several extra activities, and I'm definitely not at the peak of my energy being so pregnant! [For those of you who are counting, I'll be 35 weeks complete tomorrow!!! I am starting the 36th week!]

However, despite the timing issues, John and I were both starting to feel that even if the potty training was a more involved process, we were worried that having Chloe continue in diapers was really going to confuse her. Sunday evening, I said to Chloe, "Ok, let's go get your jammies on," (no mention of diapers at all, though she knew that we always change her diaper before bed), and she absolutely flipped out--screamed in terror, ran from the room and tried to hide behind the couch. No amount of hugs, comfort items, or soothing talk could help her calm down until the diaper business was over. So this put me over the edge--we decided late Sunday night that I would start potty-training her again.

The last two days have gone well--yesterday she was 1 for 7 on the potty (and the victory came late in the day, just as an encouragement to me, I think!), and today she was 3 for 4. Progress is being made! I think we're in it now for the long haul--we won't stop again. It still upsets her to pee on the potty, for some reason, but I am seeing some progress there as well. We do have almost three weeks before we travel for the new baby, so we'll hope that she can really get into a good habit between now and then. Keep up the good work, Chloe!