Strong Willed Child, Mom, or Both?

In retrospect, this probably would have been a helpful read...

After Jordan 'went' on the carpet, she was more than happy to put on underwear. She was a clever little one, and knew there was no chance of having an accident. After all, she was empty. Jordan happily wore the underwear until she needed to go "number 2".  She then asked to have a diaper put on.

Now I don't know about you, but in my opinion, I think she had a pretty good grasp of how the whole using-the-bathroom-thing was supposed to work. She understood it, but she refused to participate in it. Aargh.

Adam and I told her she should try using the potty before she put a diaper on, since she knew she had to go. She got so angry. When she tried, only a little pee would come out, and the whole time she smacked at her legs and yelled "I don't want to!" She was actually holding it in on purpose. We didn't want her to get constipated (see, we were not total ogres), so we put her in a diaper. And minutes later, guess what happened? You got it. She pooped and peed in her diaper. Nice.

A week later, the saga continued. At 2:00 pm, she was taking a nap in underwear, but hadn't gone pee all day. Not once. Again, she was holding it in to avoid using the bathroom.

Stubborn or stuck? Well, at the time, I would have bet a million dollars that it was stubborn. She kept saying "I don't have to go", and "I don't want to use the potty". Really??

The next day she used the potty three times, but she screamed and yelled in anger, and only let out a little bit at a time. By the end of the l o n g month she was sleeping overnight in underwear, but when she woke up, she still wouldn't use the bathroom. Who does that? Who doesn't go to the bathroom when they wake up in the morning? I'll tell you who. Jordan.

We continued to worry about her getting constipated, so we would continue to put her in a pull up. And each time, she would immediately pee in it.

Again, aargh.

Is it just me (this may be the question for the next post) or does this constitute as some pretty severe control issues?  Now, if you will, try to imagine raising a teenager with those same intense control levels.

It's a miracle that we all made it this far...

Thank you,

Us Too