Potty Training v. 4.0

You'd think this being my fourth child, I would know *something* about potty training by now. But I freely admit, I still have no clue what I am doing. Every child has trained differently, with different methods, and at different ages. Ryan still wins as my easiest. Three days, we used the "naked method", and he was done pretty much. It was simple. Then Lindsay came along and turned my potty training abilities upside down. I thought she would never train. It became a battle of wills, which is exactly the thing all the parenting books warn you about. Finally, I won. And about wept tears of joy. Logan took a little longer, but with his delays, it was to be expected, and actually, he trained earlier than I thought he would. One day the light bulb just went on for him and he was ready.

So after being put through the ringer, I thought I was ready for anything with Hannah. And then she pulled a trump card. She is actually showing interest in potty training, which was something none of the other kids ever did. I had to force them, but now Hannah, is forcing me. I have to admit I'm the one that wasn't ready this time. We just got Logan trained 6 months ago, and I didn't expect to go through it again so soon.

Part of what makes it more frustrating, is she doesn't really "get it" yet. When she's naked, she still just pees on the floor. She asks to go about a thousand times a day, and nine times out of ten, nothing happens. I take her every time though, as I don't want to discourage it. On the other hand, I am spending a lot of time in my kids' bathroom these days, sitting there, waiting for urine. She has also developed a nasty habit of sneaking into the bathroom and unrolling the entire roll of toilet paper into the toilet.

I am fervently praying for patience these days.