Potty Training Trials

​When I had two kids, I felt like I knew what I was doing with this parenting thing. I even wore clothing that matched, and occasionally put some make-up on. 
 
+2 more kids and I realized I don't actually have a clue...
 
Take potty training for example. My son was potty trained by 2 and a half and my daughter was trained before her second birthday. That kiddo never even had an accident. Now, we've been trying to potty train my third for months and it looks a lot like scrubbing the carpet and cleaning up messes. 

​With her 3rd birthday only 3 months away, I've been trying to figure out what we could possibly be doing wrong as it seems like she has no awareness of when she needs the bathroom- but if we remind her to use it every hour, she does perfectly!
 
I spent some one-on-one time talking to her about listening to her body to understand when she needed to use the toilet. So this sweet girl tilts her ear to her shoulder to "listen" to what her body is saying. After asking her shoulder, she decided that she needed to use the bathroom. 
 
I thought this cute interpretation of my wise words just might have been successful... until she had two more accidents that afternoon.
 
We pulled out the diapers again... which she hates... because let's be real, after wearing undies no one wants a diaper. 
 
And guess what? 
 
She hasn't had any more accidents! Go figure...
 
The moral of the story is that every stage of life is different for each one of us. Some things come easy for one and hard for another. 
 
As parents, it can feel like we're failing, when we're really not. But it's hard to tell because there really is no "end result" to judge our efforts by. Or if there is, it's a distant goal.
 
But at the end of the day,  what's important is that we do our best and "just keep swimming" (as Dory the fish one said ;).