Admiting defeat or taking the high road?

This past Monday marked week 4 since I started potty training Jillian. When I began, I thought she was ready. We talked about it for weeks beforehand and got all prepared. Right from the start, it was pretty clear that she was not going to get it as fast as Annabelle did (Annabelle was the exact same age as Jillian  when we started potty training and Annabelle only needed 3 days to get it). After about 10 days of living in the bathroom, Jillian finally started telling me when she needed to go. I thought it would be easy sailing from there, but I was wrong. She seemed to only tell me when it was convenient for her. I swear sometime she wouldn't tell me just because she wanted to test me. Sometimes, she would be accident free until the evening and I would think that she's gotten it and then the next 3 days, she would be having accidents every couple hours. And she was also pooping in her underwear almost every day, which would make a huge mess and get me so mad. It was getting to the point where she would go through about 6 or 7 pairs of underwear per day. I had her go straight o wearing underwear because the pullups felt too much like diapers and didn't teach her anything. I have been so frustrated all the time that it has affected the mood in our home. I've finally decided that it's time to go back to diapers and try again at a later time. Michael mentioned doing this last week, but I absolutely refused to entertain the thought because I felt like that would be wasting weeks of hard work. I felt like I would be considered a failure and there would be no reward for all the effort I put into potty training. But then I realized that it wasn't about me. If Jillian wasn't ready, then there was nothing I could do to force her. If putting her back in diapers would make me less stressed and upset, then perhaps it was the right thing to do.

So yesterday, we went to the store to buy diapers, which I never thought I'd be doing for Jillian again. She occasionally tells me when she needs to go to the bathroom, but she has transitioned back to diapers with such ease that it's clear to me that that was the right decision. I feel so much more energized and happy now that I am not constantly making her sit on the toilet and life has become much more enjoyable.

See you later potty seat, pullups, and poopy underwear....... until next time.