Drop the rope!

My dad once told me that if you don't want to play tug-of-war anymore, all you have to do is drop the rope. It's easier said than done, especially when you really have a vested interest in winning said game of tug-of-war.

But today, I've done it. And it's actually working (so far, anyway).

When Katie woke up this morning, I vowed not to say anything about the potty. And I did pretty well for the first hour. The second hour I caved - I asked her if she wanted to go potty. "NO!" I was really starting to get tired of following her around everywhere in hopes of either catching an accident before it happened, or at least seeing where the accident landed so I could clean it up. The third hour, I was starting to get desperate. Katie said she wanted to go out in her stroller, and I told her that she would have to potty first. We went back and forth with that for quite some time. I really tried to be neutral and matter-of-fact about it. I told her it was up to her, and as soon as she went on the potty we could go.

I watched her do several different variations on the pee-pee dance: crossing her legs, holding her hand to her crotch, shifting from side to side. It was a Herculean effort not to just grab her and force her on the potty. But we all know how that would have turned out. In the end, she FINALLY, FINALLY went on her own. And I immediately dressed her and whisked her off to run errands. There was no time for a stroller ride, so Grammy's coming over later to take her for a stroll.

During our errand-running, she intermittently drank water out of her sippy cup. When we got home, she drank lots of milk with her lunch. I didn't say a single word about the potty even though it had been over 2 hours since her last pee. And guess what? While we were playing, she suddenly said "Potty!" and turned and walked to the bathroom. I silently helped her with her clothing and that was that.

So, lesson FINALLY learned. Katie is not me. She is not Anthony. She is not anyone else I've ever known. She is the only human being on the face of the earth who can wait 3 hours to pee after waking up. But hey, I think this is proof that she does actually know when she needs to go. So quit nagging, Mama!!!!

Makes you wonder: with potty training, who's training whom? :)