The Potty

I know many of you will think that we are crazy but Michael and I decided to potty train Esther this last week. I know everyone says don't do it right before you have a baby but Esther has been ready for a while now and it just made sense for us. We used the three day potty program which suggests training as early as 22 months, which we would have tried if we weren't in the middle of the move. We talked with Esther before hand for weeks about going potty on the toilet and being a big girl. We took here to the store and she pick out her own underwear(she loved the ones with the kitty's). We made a sticker chart and bought a potty seat that fits on the toilet.
Day one: after three accidents in 30 minutes I was about ready to give up. Michael had three days off in a row to help out but had a work meeting in the morning on the first day. If I had to do the whole thing by myself I would have given up. After I cleaned up the three accidents and the mess that Henry made while I was cleaning up Esther I realized something. Here I was trying to make my life "easier" by not having three kids in diapers and in fact was creating more work. I did not realize that even if Esther picked up potty training and did great, having her use the toilet required more of my time. Now I have to rush her to the toilet help her get her pants off, get her onto the toilet, help her wipe, help her get her pants back on, and help her wash her hands. And of course she always needs to go in the most inconvenient time, like when I am changing a poopie diaper on Henry. I guess I will blame my stupidity on having a pregnancy brain. But despite my realization I did not want to give up and Esther did not want to either. After Michael cleaned up 2 more accidents he was about ready to give up though. Finally that afternoon we had a break through she got the idea of telling us she needed to go and running to the toilet. After one successful time and a lot a praise she had it down. It has been 10 days now since we started and she has not had an accident since last Friday. I don't have to ask her a million times if she needs to go, she just comes and tells me. We have had to put a pull-up on her at night because no matter what time I got her up to pee at night she woke up wet in the morning but, the last 5 out of 6 mornings she has woken up dry. She is very cute in her kitty underwear and her jeans are easier to get on without that bulky diaper. I know I have created more work for me but I think that it is worth it. Michael and I are now talking about whether or not to try Henry in a couple of months. I guess we will see.