So, our little first-born angel, E.A., is 3 years old.  She turned 3 in the middle of December.  We have been somewhat potty training since she was about 2.  And by “somewhat,” I mean we bought the potty seat (3 of them, in fact), bought the books, talked about “pee-pee” and “poop”, sat her on the potty, occasionally used it for its intended purpose, and attempted some bribery with stickers.  So we decided that Potty Training Boot Camp began January 1.  We had tried pull-ups but she just went in those like she did in her diaper.  We were pretty sure she was ready because she was showing several signs of readiness, which I will not bore you with by listing them all here.  And we (actually I) had read “The No-Cry Potty-Training Solution” by Elizabeth Pantley (who has several books, all of which I recommend).  Our potty-training methods, however, are not entirely from her book, but we did borrow a few ideas.

So January 1: panties.  Yep, that’s right, we jumped in feet first.  Not just panties, my friends; panties with plastic diaper covers.  She figured out real quick that these were in no way like her diapers or pull-ups.  Thus began the battle of the wills.  For 10 days (yes, TEN DAYS!!) she absolutely refused to sit on the potty.  Pee, poop, didn’t matter.  She was doin’ it in her panties. At home, at MDO (God bless her very patient teachers!!), NO POTTY!!  And then, it happened.  She started sitting on the potty.  The struggle was far from over but she started sitting on the potty and getting a nice little (wrapped) present every time she used it for its intended purpose.  She did pretty well for awhile and we even left the plastic diaper covers off for a few days.  But she was still having poop accidents so we would leave her in her pull-up in the mornings for MDO then when she poops, she gets panties.

So here we are 4 months or so later and she still has pee accidents and absolutely NEVER poops on the potty.  She even screams and cries when we ask/make her sit on the potty at home.  At “school” (MDO) she goes all the time and only has poop accidents.  So here’s my question to all those moms out there: what else can we do to get her to go on the potty all the time?  I know I should probably know this, but is this normal?  She’s a very smart and willful child; is this a control issue? (then again, what isn’t a control issue to a preschooler?) We bought and are awaiting the arrival of the book “Everyone Poops” because I have been told this is a good aide for getting her to poop on the potty.  Any other suggestions?  I’m open.

On Friday, we went to have pictures taken of our 2 little girls, E.A. and Sport (some names have been changed to protect the innocent). We use a photographer that we have known for years. She took our engagement pictures 7 years ago. She now lives a 3 1/2 hour drive away from us but about 20 minutes from my SIL’s house. So we spent 2-3 weeks trying to get our schedules coordinated for when we could get up there and she would be in town. She is pregnant and has a small child and has been scheduling her sessions around when her husband is home. We were not able to schedule on a day he was off so she graciously offered to schedule us during her son’s naptime, at 10:30 AM. Perfect. My girls will have eaten and not be ready for naps yet. Good moods=good pictures. Except…

On Friday morning at 9:30 the photographer calls me to tell me that the photo gods are not smiling on us today because I have not sacrificed enough of my old 35mm film to them: she has no electricity due to construction next door, that they are going to have to rerun all of the lines to her house and that she will be without electricity for at least half a day. She will call me if they get power back and we can come then. Obviously she doesn’t realize we’re going to miss the magic window and she, being 8 months pregnant, is about to work as hard for her sitting fee as she ever has!

We go about our day, meeting Auntie for lunch, reeking havoc on Steak and Shake. Then Sport takes a 20 minute nap (about half as long as normal) and E.A. goes down about 1:45, which is really good for her since she is a notoriously bad sleeper and we are notoriously bad at enforcing a routine. Our lovely, talented, gracious, and oh-so-pregnant photographer calls at 2:45 to tell me that she now had power and her son is taking a long nap, can we come right over? Um, no, E.A. is in the middle of what turned out to be a really long nap.  So at 4:15ish, she wakes up, we debate what to do, call the photog, and rush over with a large bowl of cheezits in hand.

Those of you who are parents of more than one child are currently yelling “Nooooooooooo!!!” at the computer screen like it’s some bad horror flick and the main character just won’t listen to you. Yeah, we should have been yelling that to ourselves. The photog then starts earning her money. She suggested, in all her wisdom, that we do family photos first. I don’t know how the proofs are looking, but I’m guessing these are the best pics by far. We got the girls still for about 5 minutes of family photos and a few of dad and girls but they were not having Mommy pics!

Then the individual pics, which she did mostly with them by herself, because mom and dad in the room are just distractions. Then the Easter dresses. This is where the really hard work begins. E.A. was pretty good, smiled, sat still, whined a little but over all was pretty good for her individual pics. But Sport, being 20 months old, could not understand that she was supposed to stay in one part of the room and that hitting the nice lady’s brand new (and I’m sure very expensive) PAPER backdrop was not only unacceptable, but strongly discouraged by the person who was envisioning herself paying for a new one (ME!). So while Daddy was in the next room entertaining the photog’s darling little son who decided to wake up promptly when we called and announced we were on our way over, Mommy spent the next hour chasing said 20-month-old around the studio, replacing her on the floor in the midst of the VERY hot lights, stuffing the child with cheezits, wiping her nose and mouth repeatedly, begging for smiles, hiding behind the photographer, and sweating. At this point, I’m convinced the child either doesn’t know her name or is completely immune to the sound of my voice calling it.

Then, the 2 girls together. By this point, E.A., being the VERY understanding 3-year-old she is, has had it. Fortunately, bribery works well on her and the photog is quite adept at this technique. One peek at the treasure box, and we’re almost back in business. She sits still, aided by a few cheezits, but smiling is a different story. At one point, she is crying with a mouth full of cheezits, saying “cheese”. She actually tolerates the remainder of the session fairly well, but Sport continues her basic M.O. throughout. Mommy has now called for reinforcements, leaving a somewhat-unhappy tiny photographer in his jumper next door. Despite silly faces, squeakers, peek-a-boo, singing, crying (by  all involved, including Mommy), begging, pleading, feeding, and bribing, no happy, smiley, 2-sisters-looking-at-the-camera picture was to be found. Sigh.

But, whatever she got, our fabulous photog will certainly make fantastic. And that, my friends, is why professional children’s photographers are worth every penny.