Potty training. Just the very words send shivers down my spine and make my blood pressure rise. You would think I would be a pro by now, with this being my third child. Nope. Every child is so different and I have yet to find that magical little key unlocking the mysteries of the Potty World. If I do in fact find it this time around, I will let you know. Don't hold your breath though. (The picture above shows our bathroom set-up. The Spongebob toilet seat keeps Josh mildly entertained. The big Yellow M&M is actually a candy dispenser. The lever on the side of the recliner, once pulled, releases sweet goodness out the bottom of the recliner. I inherited that from my grandma when she passed away. I'm sure she is smiling down at us now, happy that her little M&M guy is bribing her great-grandchild to become a 'big boy.' ;) The picture below is of Josh's train sticker chart. I found it online for free and thought 'why not?' Josh seems to like it so that's all that matters.) 
I decided to potty train Josh on November 11th last year. Why do I remember the exact date? Because I was diagnosed with pneumonia just 3 days later which caused me to throw the whole idea out the window (something I have NEVER done before.) In the past when I felt it was time, I just did it and did not look back. I told Jake I would start again once I was healthy. Then Josh was sick off and on for a few months with ear infections, colds, the normal winter yucks. Then I told Jake I would potty train him once Josh was healthy. Well, he has been healthy for about a month now. Then I decided once his Costco pack of size 4 diapers were gone, it was time. (Yes, this was my way of procrastinating, because I do in fact despise this stage of parenting. It is frustrating for both the parent AND the child, the constant power struggle taking place between the two. Also, it's a time the parent has to become totally dedicated to that one child, no distractions. That gets hard the more kids you have. You have to literally check-out of life for a few days (hopefully not weeks or months!) to get this thing done. Thankfully, I have two older children who are constant reminders that children do eventually become potty trained and with perseverance I will win this war!) Anyway, Jake reminded me a few days ago that there were only 10 diapers left. I did the math and realized that meant Sunday morning, March 14th, would be "the day." No turning back.So, I gave Josh a little pep talk last night. Pulled out his 20 pairs of dazzling toddler underwear, sporting characters from Cars, The Incredibles, Nemo, WallE, and Sesame Street. He seemed to be very excited, almost like the night-before-Christmas excited. I thought to myself "Could this really be THAT easy?" When he woke up this morning I reminded him that today was the big day and all of a sudden that joy and excitement I saw in him last night quickly turned to horror and terror. Oh no. Here we go again...
To be honest, today actually went pretty well (knock on wood.) After fighting him to put the underwear on, he slowly became excited about his Mr. Incredible underwear, and then started racing all over the room pretending he was Dash. He asked to go to the bathroom once, had about 5 accidents, and actually went pee in the potty TWICE. I'm not saying it's been a walk in the park, but today was actually the best "first day" between my three kids. Hopefully Josh becomes my little 'potty man' and proves all my theories wrong. So far, he's doing it. (Now let's just pray he doesn't decide to have a bowel movement during the night!)
3 comments:
Girl, I can FEEL YOUR PAIN!!! I despise potty training. it was no fun for each of my 3 kids. we made it. Blake who will be 4 in a couple weeks is potty trained perfectly for the day but at night he still wears a pull up. i have no idea how to get him to wack up or hold it til he wakes up. my girls always woke up dry when it was potty training time. anyway, i need to get it figured out. good luck to you with josh! good thing is he will eventually get it and life will be good! :)
You are a brave woman! I have still been putting diapers on Ryleigh at night even though she's been potty trained during the day for quite a while. She just doesn't seem to get it when she's asleep. We've gone for weeks of her peeing the bed until I finally just put the diapers back on her. I could be doing better, though. I need to pull back on liquids after a certain hour and then probably even wake her up in the middle of the night so she gets used to going. Potty training IS the worst, but at least this is your last one!
I hear ya! Going through it with Emmy right now. I have been potty training her since last summer. Motivated to be consistent... again.
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