Potty Training: Round 1

Okay potty training - it's been pretty much the worst experience in my parenting life. I joke with Larry that I can officially prove that time travel doesn't exist or I would've traveled to past me at this point and stopped myself from trying this so soon! When I say it felt like a big punishment, I'm not being dramatic (or at least not entirely so).

Our picture on the first day...filled with such naïve joy

The good part? I think we learned quite a bit for when we feel Cara is ready (and what we can use for future kids). So here are my takeaways from our first week attempting potty training Cara:

• Nothing worked! Not pull-ups, not being naked, not being outside (naked), not underwear, not shows, not snacks, not praise, putting her on the potty every 30/60/90 minutes, NOTHING! It got so frustrating constantly changing up how we were going to train her and taking all the tips and yet she still would have constant accidents. And the worst part: she had no shame in the accidents. She'd actually start to play in her "puddles" and splashing in them, which made an even bigger mess!!
• Screen time is just never going to be my method! It absolutely killed me watching her brain melt while watching something on a phone. I knew it wasn't working when I asked her if she wanted to go potty and she'd sit down and say "show" while reaching out for our phones. I immediately stopped letting her just watch anything (even though I did try and make it somewhat educational, she still turned into a zombie).

If she wasn't in front of the TV...

...She had a screen (of some sort) on her lap

• There got to be a point where she actually stopped pooping unless a diaper or pull up was on. Even if we put her on the potty at her usual pooping time, she just wouldn't go. I got a little nervous that this would cause even bigger issues.
• It got even tougher when we hit Wednesday (which was 5 days in) and Larry mentioned she wasn't getting any better and he couldn't keep up with putting her on the potty every 30 minutes. Not that she was going every time we did that, but there was just no way he could do that AND work AND take care of Gwen. I got a little frustrated, but looking back she should've been better at this point and we should've seen this as a sign that it wasn't the right time. But I wanted to keep strong because I had heard that it's always tough in the beginning so I figured that's what we needed to do - keep with it.
• Good news is: She never had an accident when we left the house. We ended up leaving for a few errands and we'd put a Pull-Up on her, but when we got home she'd be dry. Another win was that when we'd say potty she knew exactly where to go.  

One of our "we're going crazy, lets just get out for a minute"
Errands that she stayed dry throughout.

We ended the dreaded week with a trip to the aquarium
At least we could say we had fun at one point.

My end result and how we're moving forward is that I think we need to wait till she can answer basic questions. For example, if we ask her if she's hungry, if she likes what she has, if she wants to go outside to play, if she slept well...right now she doesn't respond to questions like that. If we say outside, she'll say "side!" and run to the door. She also will say "go go go". But any yes or no question she just doesn't know how to respond to right now.
So I'm hoping when she's closer to 2.5 she'll be more ready for round 2. I just know I'd really like her to be trained by the time she's 3 so that we can get her registered for preschool next year (for Fall 2020). Fingers crossed we can do that (and that I don't have PTSD from this time at that point haha...but for real)!