Q&A Mac: Stubborn Streak

I started potty training Cailyn on Sunday, using the same 3-day-potty-training method that I used with Rylee. Cailyn was SUPER excited about wearing panties and sitting on her Dora potty ring - in fact every time I changed her diaper after we bought her panties until I started training her 2 days later, she whined "No diaper! Dora panties!"

The first two days went pretty well - especially Day 2! Even though she only went to the bathroom 3 times that day (I have discovered that she has AMAZING bladder control!), she always made it to the toilet and was very excited about getting stickers and treats as rewards for going potty.

Today, however, proved to be a challenge. Cailyn decided initiate a power struggle. With this method, you never force your child to sit and "try" going potty; instead, the goal is to get her to recognize her body's signals that she needs to go potty and only put her on the toilet when she actually needs to go (this means that I have to catch her in the act), so we've been joined at the hip and I've asked about a million times in the last 3 days if her panties are still dry, cheered wildly every time she said yes, then reminded her to tell me when she needs to go potty. The first two days, Cailyn was totally excited about telling me her panties were dry, and would cheer with me - "Yee Haw!", "Wow, Amazing!", and "Woo Hoo!" are her favorite cheering phrases. But today, she started telling me "no" when I asked if her panties were dry - even though they were! She did go pee in the toilet once in the morning, but then had an accident. When I put her down for her nap, she kept whining "Dora Potty!" because she knew that if she told me she needed to go potty I would get her out of her crib. She did this a few times and sat on the toilet for about 20 seconds each time without doing anything. About a minute after the last time she sat on the toilet, she yelled from her room "Wet bed!" The little stinker knew that I would have to get her out of bed to change the sheets. So I quickly changed them, took away everything wet - including her beloved purple blankie - and left her to fall asleep. That was at 1:30.

She woke up dry around 4. I pumped her full of liquid, but she refused to go potty all afternoon. I even started cheering, getting stickers and candy for myself every time I went to the bathroom. When she asked for her own treats I told her she could have them when she went potty. She said no.
Around 7:30 I started giving her as many popsicles as she could eat, figuring at some point she would hit breaking and go potty before it was bed time. I was wrong. Even taking her purple blankie away (I couldn't see her panties to know if she was starting to pee with it wrapped around her body) and telling her she could have it back after she went potty didn't work!
Finally, a little after 8, I came up with a solution. I bought a Dora backpack - not with pictures of Dora, but Dora's actual purple backpack complete with map in the pocket - a while back with the intention of using it as Cailyn's "Big Girl Bag" (with extra panties, etc.) for going places after she was potty trained. I pulled it out of the closet and showed it to Cailyn, and her face immediately lit up! I told her she could have it if she would go potty. And that did it!

Just to remind you, she held her bladder from 1:30 until 8:30 tonight!
(How I wish I had that kind of control!)