Playing the Big Girl Card Part II (or The Power of a High Five)

(Quick note again to remind you all to vote again for Samantha today for the Parents Magazine weekly contest - at the end of the time period, the 10 weekly winners will vie for a cover shot! This morning it appears she has dropped from 37 to 39... It only takes a few seconds to click the link, click the "vote" button and type in the word recognition, then voila! You can vote once daily per IP address, which means that if you access multiple computers, including your cell phone, you can vote from each. Here's the link: http://photos.parents.com/category/vote/photo/863057/46 Thanks!!!)

I hesitate to write this post, as I’m sure I’ll jinx everything. Do you ever do that? Not say something for fear of “jinxing?” Not to go too far off topic, but I often worry that “jinxing” falls under the superstition category, which I believe has its roots firmly planted in a sea of OCD. Yep, I think that anything that becomes part of a ritual of any sort (like not doing something due to an irrational fear based on…nothing), is a sort of obsessive-compulsive behavior.

Oh well, I’m sure we all have it in us in some quantity…

Anyway, what was I saying? Oh yes, I hesitate to write this post because I’m afraid that if I do, I’ll be wrong and it’ll not happen anymore (tap my desk 3 times touch my nose move my pen to the left side of my keyboard…whew, that was close!).

But Samantha has woken up dry in the morning for the last 4 days (I actually wrote this post yesterday, when she was at 3 days, and was so excited to modify it to 4 this morning!).

We have been keeping her in a pull-up at her private school during the day because she naps there, and she always wakes wet from her naps. We keep her in underwear for her public school (except this week since she’s on an antibiotic, which can cause, uh, accidents). I’m too chicken to keep her in underwear at home, but I’ll tell you, that girl can seriously hold her water.

The issue has never been of her being able to use the toilet – as a matter of fact, she’s incredibly efficient, and has used it in some capacity since she was about 18 months old. Hop on, make sure her skirt/dress/long top/hair are bundled up so as not to get wet, do her bizness, pull just the right amount of toilet paper off the roll to wipe, hop off, fix her clothes, wash hands. She’s really good at it! The issue has been whether or not she’d tell us she actually has to go. Did I mention she can hold her water? Yeah, until she can’t hold it any more. Then it’s too late.

But she hasn’t had an accident or a wet pull-up during the day in weeks (the last time being a relatively isolated incident with her new aide who wasn’t being forceful enough in making sure Sammi made a trip to the potty), and actually woke from her nap on Tuesday at school dry, telling the teacher she had to use the potty and going on her own.

Showing your pride in your children’s accomplishments and teaching them to feel proud of themselves is key, I think. We have never underplayed any of her accomplishments, encouraging her to do things on her own because they’re the right things to do. I had written before about playing the Big Girl card, and that is very much at play here. She is proud of being a big girl. She wants to do big girl things and feel that pride.

When I went into her room in the last few mornings to get her up for school, one of the first things I’ve asked is, “Are you dry?” And her response has been an enthusiastic, “Yes, I’m dry, Mommy.” And when I put her on the potty a few minutes later, she gets the speech about how proud I am of her, and we seal the deal with a high five.  This morning (Day 4) she also said, "See, I told you no pee pee in the pull-up!"  She's working so hard at this.

Never underestimate the power of a high five, by the way.