The problem was that she soon realized that the one thing that she had control of in her "toddler world" was using the potty. And so, while I knew that she needed to go (by seeing her exhibit all of the signs like dancing around or running off to a corner in our house), the minute that I set her on the potty, she refused to go. She would hold it and fight me in the bathroom for more than an hour ... until she could no longer physically hold it. Hopefully, that instant would be when she was actually sitting on the potty.
We reached a turning point ten days ago, when after sitting with her in the bathroom for over an hour -- coaxing/fighting with her to go -- the second that I left to set Sophia down, she peed ... all over my bathroom rugs. She was pretty upset about it.
I made a decision that day (it was a Friday), that we would try something new the following Monday. Starting on May 23rd, I kept her confined to the family room and kitchen (both are wood floors -- no carpeting), and she would wear "real" panties. I would keep reminding her about the real panties and ask her if she needed to use the potty.
She had exactly two accidents in her panties and she cried about them. She doesn't like messes and she definitely did not like the feel of wet panties. And so, as of today, she has not had an accident in her panties for one full week; two days after my regimented potty training.
She hasn't had an accident during her nap or in the middle of the night. She goes in the bathroom and uses the potty by herself (sometimes she tells us before she uses it, sometimes she just does it on her own). She holds it while we are running errands and then goes in her potty as soon as we get home. And, she doesn't have a particular affinity for one particular potty -- we have three of them and she has successfully used all three of them.
Here she is officially packing away all of her diapers this weekend (we will save those for Sophia):
One of the other things that I did with Sam while training her last week was to use a "Potty Chart." Every time that she used the potty successfully, she got to pick out a sticker out of my sticker box. I have TONS of stickers and she had a blast choosing one each time. Before long, the chart was full and we even had to make a second one. We are no longer doing stickers (it would be a full-time job for me), but the charts are still up on the fridge to remind her.
Steve and I both knew that once she started using the potty, that she would progress with it VERY quickly. That's the way that she accomplishes milestones; she takes a while to get there, but once she gets it, she soars. For example, she was a "late walker." In fact, she didn't take her first steps until she was 15 months old. But the day that she did, I called Steve at work to tell him and when he came home, she walked all the way across the kitchen to greet him.
There are some milestones that I got a little teary-eyed over when Samantha met them. It was because my baby girl was growing up and becoming more and more independent. This milestone brings a different kind of tears though-- tears of joy and happiness because she she is so proud of herself. And then of course, it also means less messes for me (and this mama doesn't like messes either).
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