the past couple of days Olivia has been waiting until the verylastsecond to announce she has to pee. This weekend she peed her pants twice (one right after another, so I don't think she got all of it out the first time). The other times, she dribbles onto her underwear.
I thought maybe new school issues, but it happened before she started new school.
She delays going to the bathroom and throws a fit if we say it time for potty - even when I know she needs to go (like right after waking up).
We try not to make a big deal of it (ask her "where does pee pee go?" and she answers) and she doesn't seem devastated about it. But it is very annoying.
Any tips?
Re: Oh noes! Regression in PTing?
It sounds like a control phase. I'm no expert, but it sounds like she's testing to see what happens if she doesn't use the potty "correctly" and she doesn't want to be told where and when to go potty. Totally normal. The same kind of thing that can happen with any toddler control issue. Eating, sleeping, getting dressed, etc.
I wouldn't make it a battle of wills. Let her know that you trust her to use the potty, but if she chooses not to put her pee in the potty then she's going to have to help you clean up the mess she makes. Make it clear that it is her choice.
When we were getting DD to finally start using the potty, she had a choice of using the potty or making a mess. We had to take the choice of using a diaper away for her to finally make the choice to use the potty. With her, you have to let her make as many decisions as possible.
And for the underwear dribbles, does she have some favorite underwear? Characters she loves or favorite patterns? You can say "Oh, too bad you started to pee in your Dora underwear. Now Dora has to be washed. Here is some plain white underwear to put on instead." :-) You don't want to make a big deal out of the dribbles (I think it is still part of the learning process to keep her from being complacent about using the potty), but it teaches her that there is a consequence for not paying attention to her needs.
Me too. Also, I have K help change the mess.