Be watchful when transitioning into pants if you don’t have a poop yet.
The illusion of privacy that pants provide is a cue for them to just do
it in their pants.
Even on the second day, no poop is very common. It’s okay, don’t
panic. One of the biggest problems with lack of poop is that you, the
parent, start to freak out and get anxious. You also start hovering and
slip into overprompting. Head over to chapter 10, “Poop,” for more
information.
Full-blown Tantrums
These are not unheard of in a two-year-old who is not getting her
way. In this particular case, “her way” is a diaper/routine/everything
back the way it was. Here’s the thing with tantrums: they aren’t very
satisfying for your child if you aren’t tugging at the other end of the
proverbial rope. Here’s a typical potty training tantrum situation:
You prompt her to go pee on the potty. As you are making your way
to her, she throws herself down on the floor, immediately becomes
either superrigid or wet spaghetti-ish, starts screaming if you touch
her, and . . . you know the drill. Here’s the fix: prompt. As in “remind
and then walk away.” The only reason she’s putting on a show is that
you are watching, front and center. If you prompt her, leave it at that,
and really walk away—yes, it sounds risky—you are giving her space
and time to make a good decision for herself. If she is busy fighting
you, all her energy is being used in fighting you rather than in making
a good decision. So, prompt and walk away. Never does a child have a
tantrum in an empty room. The nature of the beast is that someone