Back to diapers...

We're scrapping potty training. At least for awhile. We've been at it for months now, and Ella just isn't getting it. She doesn't care if she pees or poops and wears it. It doesn't matter if she's in a diaper, pull-up, big girl panties, whatever!

I've tried taking her every 30 minutes and it came to dragging her kicking and screaming into the bathroom because she didn't want to stop what she was doing and go. So I cut it back to every hour, then we had some accidents, and still she didn't want to go. At scheduled times like bedtime and just before nap, no problem. She'll sit down and tinkle and maybe, if you read to her 14 different magazines, she'll poop while she's there. But other than that, she doesn't care if she's wearing around pair of pee soaked panties with poop caked on her butt. (sorry I know this is gross and disgusting, but seriously! Who wants to wear poop!?)

We just don't know what to do and after talking to a few other parents, we've decided maybe she's just not ready. Everyone told us she was. She would tell us when she had wet or poopy pants and needed to be changed at 18 months. Not now! She lies and tries to hide and screams everytime we need to change her. When did this become torture???!!! For all of us!

She's crying and hates it!!! Finally Friday night, I just broke down and cried too. This is overwhelming and I have no idea why it's not working. I told Troy I can't understand what we're doing wrong. We've tried it all. We've been patient, offered rewards from marshmallows, to stickers to band-aids to a "special prize" if you can go all day long with clean panties. It ain't gonna happen. I honestly don't know what else we're supposed to do.

So, we're going to give this a break for a few weeks and then come back to it and try again. We put away the big girl panties and the pullups, took away the potty seat and the step stool for the toilet. I even moved all of her books and magazines out of the bathrooms. We're completely shutting this off for awhile. Which is tough. She wants her big girl panties back, she asks to potty when we're out in public (loves hearing that pee-pee echo), and she still hides and lies and doesn't like having her diaper changed.

My biggest concern is pre-school in the fall. She can't go if she's not potty trained. But that's several months away, and a lot can change in that amount of time. I know she will stop peeing in her pants eventually. It's not like she'll be 35 and still wearing a diaper. We'll just have to wait, patiently, and hope she'll be ready. If not, it's her timing and not ours.

In the meantime, we're open to suggestions. We've exhausted everything that's been thrown at us on this one, so if you've got something better to offer, lay it on us!