11-7-12

Potty Training

Warning: If you don’t want to read about potty training just close your browser. This post is only about using the potty and all of its glory…nothing more nothing less.  

Three years later we have never attempted potty training. Mostly because most of my friends encouraged me to wait until he showed signs of being ready or else it would backfire.  The only thing that I knew was that when we did it, I wanted it to work the first time with no looking back.  And frankly, Brady had shown zero signs of interest so we have been in diapers for the first three years of his life.  Honestly,  I WAS tired of people asking about it with clear judgment in their tone- people for the most part that didn’t have kids- why he wasn’t trained and why he still wearing diapers. But other than that, him being in diapers worked for us.

I wrote quickly one Friday about my love for my pediatrician so when had Brady’s three year well visit rolled around and she told me to at least give potty training a try, I knew it was time.  Let me preface this with we did nothing to prepare. We did not read any books, we did not do any planning and we only own a potty because my mother in law bought one a while back and brought it over.   I did talk to one of my good friends about it because her daughter is trained, even for naps and nighttime, so I got some good tips from her before starting but we really went in blind. 

Saturday morning we took his diaper off with no expectations. We did bribe him and even lure him by showing him a bowl full of new toys that he could have if he peed in the potty.  He could hold the toys but they couldn’t be taken out of the wrapper until he peed in the potty. We watched him like a hawk.  We kept asking him if he needed to go.  We got a lot of nope, no, I don’t need to potty and more. We had a couple of small accidents. Not full blown pee in the pants. Just not getting to the potty in time.  And then it happened. The moment the light bulb went off and we had lots of pee in the potty and we caught it ahead of time.  We did this crazy dance and celebrated like it was New Years but it worked. He got it. 

{For the record the kid must have a bladder the size of Texas because he was holding it for hours and we were pumping him with liquid. We were setting the timer every 20 minutes and it turned in to every hour and he still wasn’t going. }


He woke up dry from his nap on Saturday and dry the next morning. I was not about to tackle this part of potty training but I was encouraged.  We were making strides. He was telling us he needed to go potty and then he was going. On Sunday, he would tell us. He wouldn’t always go but he would tell us he needed to potty and we would race to sit down.  He had an accident when he was busy playing, my fear all along, but it wasn’t bad.  We had two pretty successful days.  Long days since the freaking time changed….what were we thinking by the way? 

Daycare and potty training has not been good. I don’t know who to be frustrated with- myself for working, my kid or the daycare. First day, Monday, we batted .500 and I was feeling okay but had an accident at night. Tuesday, we started off with a huge victory before we left for school but today as school has been horrible.  To the point that it is regression at its finest. Tuesday night, was awesome. Pee in the potty and poop in the potty. So, now I am troubled by what is causing him not to use the potty at school and why the accidents.  I know that this will be the hard part. 

{I should admit that after reflecting on this experience my biggest hesitation was the fear of failure. I was so scared that it wouldn’t work, I would look like a failure as a mom and it would reflect poorly on me.  So, I told very few people that we were even tackling this.}

Why I am telling you all of this? To show I am human, scared to fail and so stinking proud of my kid.  To tell you that there is NO harm in waiting.  To tell you that my kid is growing up. And to show you a ridiculously cute photo of him. 

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Comments

  1. Julie S. says:
    11-7-12 at 8:54 pm

    You did the right thing by waiting. We tried early on with Brayden when we thought he was ready, and he wasn’t. We ended up just pulling out hair out. BUT he does great now, and I think its because he gets it. Be consistent and he will get it! 🙂

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  2. Lynne H. says:
    11-8-12 at 4:02 am

    We tried all kinds of bribes with Mark without much success, mostly stuff that other parents suggested. Then my husband told him that he could get a baseball card at the end of the day each day that he stayed dry, and we got him a special box to put them in. Not quite sure why, but it was like flicking a switch. He wanted those cards so badly we had him trained in a week, and we had him at grandma’s, in public places, etc. So just keep trying incentives until you find something he really wants that he can stay dry all day for.

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