Potty Training, Who's it Really Training?

A mom disclaimer, this mom talk may not be appreciated by those who have not yet embarked on this journey; or it may be hilarious, or it may make you never want to go on this journey ( I hope not, it is worth it)! Having said that, Kaylin has been potty trained for over 2 1/2 years, but has always slept in pull-ups keeping them filled to the brim every night, with a dry night not even in sight. I kept thinking,"eventually she will stay dry and out grow this." Eventually kept not coming and she is going to be five and I began to fear this may require intervention and the "on her own part" may never happen. The reality is as long as she is in a pull-up her body thinks she has a diaper on and therefore will never stay dry. So knowing me, I made a plan to get her out of the pull-ups. The plan you see, was three fold; 1. to get her going to the bathroom more during the day, every other hour, try remembering that! 2. cut the drinks off at 6:00pm sharp, 3. and the kicker, get her up for one last potty time before I go to bed, staying up until 11:00pm. most nights, which is rough most nights. The irony is, every morning she gets rewarded for staying dry, but really what did she do to earn it, I told her to go potty, I got her up at 11:00 every night, I cut the drinks off, and she gets rewarded, where is my reward? Why is the child rewarded for the mother's efforts? In a perfect world this all seems a little unfair. You may be thinking way to go Tracy you are working so hard and you are not getting rewarded every morning, you deserve a treat. And I would be saying, "you are right, I do deserve a reward." But, this is not a perfect world, and my biggest reward every morning is that I didn't have to get up to change sheets, I get to sleep all night. My reward is seeing my daughter succeed and feel proud of her self for staying dry. So maybe she really isn't doing any thing right now to stay dry and all the dryness comes from my efforts, but one day it will be all her effort that keeps her dry and the confidence I am giving her now will make that possible. So I say to my self, you are dong the work now to empower your daughter to do it in the future. Now if I could just get Alyssa potty trained I won't have to buy any more diapers. With any luck and little planing, which I am the master at :), she will totally potty trained by January. Just imagine it, in 5 months I could be diaper and pull-up free. What will I do with the extra money every month, but don't you worry, Stefan will finally get more meat!!