a big day and a lot of pee

One. It's looking like a big day for our boy Barack. I'd be much more giddy if it wasn't for...

Two. A lot of pee. Lots and lots of pee. S has been telling us recently when she has pooped, and it's becoming easier to tell when she's doing number one or two, so we've decided to give the whole potty training thing a whirl. I am not someone who is expecting miracles. I know that 16 months is early, but she's showing some interest, so I thought I might as well try before I miss the early window and am stuck washing diapers for another year or so. (Though I am prepared for that and am fine with it...)

Anyway, we've been talking about the potty more lately, and I've had her sit on it a few times. Yesterday, she yanked on her diaper and said, "poop." So, we headed upstairs, but there was no poop in her diaper. She said, "no,' when I asked her if she needed to sit on the potty, so I put her diaper back on and let her play. She promptly took the diaper off, walked into the bathroom, looked inside her potty (then decided against it), crawled into her old duck bathtub, and peed. She looked pretty impressed with herself if I'm being honest. I told her how good she was for telling mommy that she had to go, but I let her know that she needed to pee in the potty not the tub. Moving on to this morning.

S hadn't pooped when she woke up, so I stripped her diaper off and we headed to the bathroom. She got the look, so I sat her on the potty...AND SHE POOPED! In the potty. Like a big girl. Then she stood up, looked at it, said, "shoo. Yuck," and walked away. It was great.

That's when I definitely decided to give this thing a real, honest-to-goodness try. We'll be spending a lot of time in the house for a couple of days I think. We're going to try the "Naked and $75" approach. I did buy her some training panties this morning...plus some flushable wipes and her own hand soap. I put some of the training panties on her when we got home and she peed everywhere in her seat during lunch. I thought it wasn't so bad...until I noticed pee dripping out of the chair half an hour later. Awesome. I then proceeded to roll up the new rug in the living room, which she thought was a super fun game. She has since peed in the floor twice, and the first time was a bit traumatic. I was in the kitchen. She was playing on the rolled up rug (climbing up, scooting off. rinse and repeat). I heard a pretty loud thud, which was immediately followed by some seriously pissed off screaming. She had peed in the floor then slipped in it trying to get to the rug. So, there she was laying naked in the floor, screaming, covered in pee. I picked her up (thereby soaking myself in pee), and held her, and explained what had happened. I sat her in her little rocking chair and asked her to stay there while I cleaned up. She decided to follow me, but it didn't end well. She slipped in the puddle again, making herself infinitely more angry. I did finally get the pee all cleaned up...and the girl calmed down.

She started playing again...then she crawled into her rocking chair with a book. Then she started whining. She was, of course, peeing in her chair. I picked her up, while she was peeing, and sat her on her potty (because it is totally sitting in the living room). This time she stayed right where I put her. I think she was afraid of falling again. I cleaned up the floor for the second time in about 45 minutes, and let her stay on the potty for a bit.

I think it's wearing her out. She was so tired at the end of all that, she basically just fell into my arms. She's napping now, but I realize that this is going to be really difficult for her (and the washing machine, which is currently full of pee-soaked towels). I think she's doing pretty well, though. She's whining now as she starts to pee...not just after, and that has to be considered a step in the right direction.

Anyway, I know that the success of this little experiment depends totally on her wanting to do this, so I've just got my fingers crossed, and I'm ready to shelve the whole thing if it doesn't work, but it can't hurt to try. Any advice from all of you mama-veterans is greatly, greatly appreciated.

I'm out, peeps. I am in desperate need of a shower.