Potty Training Turned Ugly

You know on tv, or in the movies, when a poor unsuspecting soul is suddenly slammed in the face with a giant cream pie leaving them covered in whipped cream and looking completely dumbfounded?  Well, our twenty-three-month old has creamed us yet again.  Metaphorically speaking that is.


Mack has been strong willed and stubborn since the beginning of her existence.  And, although I ultimately believe that these two traits will help to make her successful later in life, they have consequently made some (or most) of our parenting experiences thus far seem like we are on the losing end of a tug of war challenge-- being won by a blonde haired, blue eyed dwarf.


Let me start at the beginning. At 30 weeks when we went in for our 3D ultrasound, our tech told us that our daughter was in the perfect position for birth.  She was head down and ready for delivery.  Fast forward to a month later and we find ourselves bewildered as our OBGYN tells us that she is now breach and chilling out in a pike position (butt down and feet up...like she's lounging on the beach).  Turkey.  This turn of events brought us two weeks later back to the hospital to attempt the version procedure-- an expensive way of saying, "We'll move her if she won't move herself. " Surely this would work.  Nada.  Instead, we found ourselves seconds from being rushed to to an operating room for an emergency c-section.  Each time our doctors attempted to move her she would flip back into her pike position and her fetal heart rate would plummet.  Stubborn, stubborn child.


Fast forward to her first year of life.  Breastfeeding was a nightmare.  After 6 weeks of battle  and a hospital stay later we waved the white flag of surrender.  Her digestion problems (to put it eloquently) showed up at 2 weeks old and have stuck around since.  Surely she had to give us some points somewhere.  Maybe in the sleeping department?  Naaah.  While other new momma friends had babies sleeping through the night by 3 months or 6 months, our daughter was up nearly every night for her first full year of life.  And yes, we tried the "cry it out" method.  At least twice. She wasn't having any of it.  


At fourteen months we finally decided to switch her from a bottle to a sippy cup.  When she realized that her "baaa" wasn't being offered anymore she decided to boycott liquids of all form and we spent a week stressing over whether or not she was going to dehydrate herself.  At eighteen months she finally picked up a sippy cup on her own, and hasn't put one down since.  And to prove her point, she continues to this day to call any and all liquids "baaaa".  
Also right around eighteen months she decided to boycott food.  This has led now to a seemingly never ending battle in trying to keep the weight up on an already thin child.  


My point is this--our daughter has a mind of her own.  She knows what she wants and won't accept anything less. So why in heaven's name did we think potty training would be any different?  Just when we thought she might actually send an easy parenting experience our way...Pie. In. The. Face.  


Last week I made the mistake of announcing to you all the Mack was successfully potty training.  And it did go well--for all of four days.  And then the novelty wore off and instead of our daughter running eagerly to the potty throughout the day, she began to slam the bathroom door in our face and then pee on the floor.  And so here we are again.  + 1 for dwarf,  -1 for mom and dad and the little green potty.  Yet another win for our strong willed child.  God love her.  


So for now, we have halted all potty training and have decided that until she becomes interested again we won't force the issue.  Personally, I like my bathroom floor urine free. We'll continue to cloth diaper and hope for a more successful go around sometime this summer.  With our luck it will probably be more like a fourth go around. Stay tuned.  Any advice out there for parents who have run into a regress in potty training would be much welcomed!