Potty Training Mis-Adventures

I've been rather confident with most phases of mother-hood thus far. God gave me these children for a reason so why should I continually question myself. And I've always felt that any confusion over how to deal with "phases" and "transitions" in childhood stemmed from society and it's endless onslaught against the family and good solid parenting and not from my lack of ability or intellect, and mostly not from my lack of an all-knowing Source. When to start solid foods, when to switch to a sippy cup, if my child should sleep with me in bed, if I should let my child cry in his crib, how to discipline......even though I get frustrated, I'm the mom here and I have the final say.

But there is one major childhood phase that I've encountered over the past few months that has me flabbergasted and stripped of confidence...potty training.

I know better than to compare my children with other children, but even so, I can't help but noticing that we're falling a bit behind on this one. And what really gets me is that I know it's MY fault. I've heard all that stuff about wait 'til the kid is ready and blah, blah, blah. But ultimately, I'm the one lacking consistency, motivation, and inspiration here.

So to make light of my potty training predicament, here are a few good stories from our attempts:

I got Jack and Ava a potty chair and very adorable underwear for their 2nd birthday. One morning when we were going to wear underwear and talk about the potty and set timers and such, this is what I found Ava doing with her underwear -

And other than free up one of her pigtails caught inside the panty, I did not help her with this.

A few weeks or months or decades later, Ava was wearing her underwear (on her butt under her pants), and we had been setting a timer all morning and sitting on the potty consistently.....with NO results. None, nada, zip....

We had just cleaned up from an accident and had finished lunch. I was on the phone with my mom and the potty timer goes off. In order to finish  up the conversation, I let a few minutes pass instead of rushing to get Ava on the potty. I hang up the phone and hear Jack say, "Ooooo pee!"

Huh?!?! Didn't I just clean up an accident?

We had a couple flies in the house at the time and I hear them all buzzing over a centralized location in the living room. I walk into the room and find Jack and Ava admiring a rather large BM.....laying on the coffee table.

Yes, the coffee table. My glass coffee table. The one that my husband and I eat off of on our at-home-date-nates.

If I had a picture of this I would post it here...

But it just seemed wrong to photograph this, so you'll have to use your imagination.