So We Thought We Might Try Potty Training...

I thought last week would be a perfect four day weekend, with Fall Break in place, to try potty training with Gabby. We had everything lined up...panties(22 pair)...check. Potty seats(3)...check. Sticker chart...check. Suckers, candy, toys and anything else to bribe her to potty...check! We started on Thursday morning. By 10am I was regretting our decision to start this process. But I was optimistic(barely)and decided to keep truckin' along. No really...Gabby had pottied and took a huge poo in her new panties and it seemed to not phase her one bit. I actually had to pry her away, which if you envision a two year old kicking and screaming being pulled down a hallway while her mother is dodging the kicks, spits, scratches and smacks, from her toys to change her. But we put fresh undies on and kept telling her over and over again, "you can't pee pee on Elmo" and "you get candy if you pee pee on the potty"! By lunchtime I had a diaper on her and was looking so forward to nap time just so that I had an excuse to take a break. Heck...she wouldn't have been able to hold it during naptime on the first day right?! So after nap time, Jeff and I kind of decided to continue the break and resume later that evening. Jeff tried to train over at his parents house b/c I had a jewelry party at the house. We made some progress that night...Jeff texted me often to tell me that Gabby came to him three times to tell him that she had accidents. On Friday morning, Gabby woke up and was excited to put panties on! She even pottied in her potty chair and we did the potty dance. However, she got very into playing with her toys and watching Sponge Bob and forgot to tell us she needed to go. We constantly reminded her(like literally every 2 minutes) and this may have created some overload. All of a sudden potty'ing on the potty was not fun to Gabby anymore. So many more accidents later...we decided to take yet another break and see how she would do later that evening. Same thing. Saturday I was gone in the morning and came home to hear from Jeff that we probably needed to wait a while on this project. He explained that Gabby was very into wearing panties that morning but had not pottied in her chair, on the toilet or in her diaper. She had held it for over 5 hours. We think she was holding it for many reasons. So many that I will probably not be able to identify just one. I honestly think she felt too pressured to potty. I think she felt really bad when she would have accidents. We did not discipline or treat her any differently when she would have accidents, but I sensed she felt this way for some reason. Either way she seemed confused. When Jeff put a diaper on her...she instantly soaked it to the point to where she had to be changed again. I feel this was our answer to the question of should we do this or not right now. My thought is that we still have some time. She has only been a 2 year old since September and has a lot of time to mature in these next few months. We are just going to see what happens and not rush it. She does ask to wear panties sometimes and I put them on her when she wants. This usually does not last but 5 minutes before she is asking for a diaper which tells me that we made a good decision. So...I am not concerned. It's not like she will be walking around in diapers when she is in middle school right?! Well...I hope not! ;)