Did not go as I had hoped, although I did discover that she can hold her bladder for five and a half hours.
Things started well. We'd been prepping her for a few days, mentioning casually that the diapers were going to go away, so she knew what was happening when I took her diaper off in the morning. She obligingly stopped in the bathroom on the way downstairs, and did a smashing job. She cheerfully pulled on a pair of pink panties and went about her business.
Which, oops, not much later included elimination in her undies, liquid and solid. Oh, well. No biggie. I took them off, emptied them into the toilet, let her flush and clean up, and got her a new pair.
About an hour later, a flood. Oh well again; I knew there would be accidents, and now I've had a chance to scrub the floor in two separate spots. I figured that would be my day.
And then a bit later, after lunch (cashew nuts and animal crackers; she ate like a bird today, maybe on purpose), she got up, announced she needed to use the potty, went into the bathroom, and went through the whole process like a professional. Lovely, I thought. Maybe this is it. Maybe this is the end of the accidents.
Naive? Oh, yeah. But I hoped.
She napped today, of all things. She almost never naps at home anymore, and has started skipping it occasionally at day care. Fortunately I had a rubber sheet on the couch, and I tucked her blanket around her bottom just in case. She woke up dry around 3:00.
"Do you need to use the potty?" I asked her.
She shook her head. "No, not yet."
I asked her periodically over and over again. Once she said she wanted different panties; I let her pick a striped pair and change. Still didn't want to use the potty. I was making dinner when she said she wanted to change again. I asked her again, and got the same answer: "Not yet."
Things got very quiet when I was in the kitchen. Never a good sign. Sure enough, moments later she called to me: another flood. An impressive one, too; she must've been hanging on to that for quite a while.
I cleaned it up cheerfully. She wanted to help; but she's not really equipped to, so I had to distract her a bit. I told her next time she should let me know so we could get to the potty first. She nodded sagely; she's always doing that.
So: How many things did I do wrong? In retrospect, I think two:
1) I shouldn't have chastised her, however gently, about her last accident.
2) More importantly, I should not have ASKED if she wanted to use the potty. I should have told her it was time, and if she sat and did nothing that was fine; but that it was potty time and we were going to go sit for a minute.
Not easy. #2 is going to be rough for her; she has her routine, and she gets upset if it's interrupted. I will need to be gentle, but insistent. I don't want it to turn into a bad experience, but it CANNOT turn into a power struggle. That's what happened to my work friend who had the five-year-old in diapers. No, thank you.
Am I doing this too soon? I don't know. I asked her at bedtime if she wanted a diaper or panties; she thought about it for a moment, then decided on a diaper. While I was putting her to bed, she reiterated that she didn't want panties. I told her that was fine - that diapers could be for nighttime, and panties for daytime. She got a huge smile on her face and said "Yeah."
Maybe that was the wrong thing, too. Maybe it sends a mixed message.
She has ALL the pieces. I'm reasonably sure that her marathon non-peeing session this afternoon was more about control than not understanding when she needed to go. When she DOES go, she gets all of it right. She just needs to get to the point where it's the default, and not just some novel game that she's getting bored with.
I promised myself I'd stick with it at least through the weekend; but right now it sure would be easier just to pull the Pampers back out of the closet.