How easy I forget... I found the missing link!!

I see something or do something and think what a wonderful blog post that would be... Then later that night or a few days later I have no clue what I was thinking about blogging. I know I am not alone.

I think we have found the missing key to the final step of potty training for Ruth. After we came home from campmeeting last July we have had a host of problems. It started I believe with her falling into the stool at the hotel and getting stuck. Then we were scared to potty on the potty. We would sit on the edge and pee all over herself and the floor. Then we would pull up our now wet clothing and walk around. After we were no longer scared to go potty by ourselves it became harder. She would take her self and then run off to do her own thing. As it was winter and we were wearing tights most days we would chafe from being wet for an extended time. Then to make things worse we started to wet the bed every night. I decided to take her in to be checked for an UTI. She had no signs, except the content bed wetting after not for months.

Well my doctor told me something that I didn't know. The chemical your body makes to keep you from wetting the bed isn't always made consistently. It is normal for a small child to go through a time of bed wetting as the body adjusts and the chemical production gets back to normal. I thought once you had the bed wetting thing down it was done. Silly mommy...

Ruth did have a UTI and was put on medicine and the bed wetting was getting better. We still had the walking around wet to deal with. I am very careful to not punish a small child for having an accident. I do know that some children stop having accidents and start having on purpose messes. I didn't believe this was the problem. I believed the problem was we had no problem walking around wet. Something that before had been the end of the world. I tried setting timers and making her sit on a baby mat*. Nothing seemed to make a dent in any way shape or form.

Last week I tried a completely new approach. I told her that babies that walked around wet and threw fits until they wet there pants took naps like baby Elsie and didn't get to do big girl school. She turned pail and started to cry again.

This morning she woke up wet and sat right down to eat breakfast. When I realized it and started to say something she quickly hopped down went potty and dressed in dry clothes. I looked at her and explained that if she was wet again she would take a nap with Elsie.

I want my daughter to do school and learn. She is learning most things right along with Cecilia. I even told my husband about it and my concern about her not doing school. He said we needed to find what worked and it seemed to have the effect we needed.

Potty training is right about top of the things I really could do without when it comes to being a mommy. Everyone struggles in one shape or form. So I want to encourage all those mommies out there it just keep celebrating all those little accomplishments and it will happen.

BABY MAT: A towel placed on the floor. I began to realize that Cecilia was having accidents because she wasn't taking time to pay attention to her body's signs that it needed to go. So if we had an accident we had to sit on the baby mat. Babies who wet in there pants could not sit on my new furniture or floor and leave messes. So we would sit with no toys, no TV, and a sippy cup. The sippy cup is the key as then we were taking in liquid so we could go potty and then get up and play. It was just what Cecilia needed.

Philip was GROUP POTTY. I would drag him kicking and screaming to the restroom. The whole time he was telling me he didn't need to go. As I was told to take Silas every hour to keep his kidney as empty as possible; every hour EVERYTHING stopped for group potty time. As soon as he realized every one had to stop having fun and playing to go potty he was good to go.

Silas was stickers.

I have heard that people used gum, candy, new underwear.

Try not to stress and keep your eyes open for the KEY.