Monday, July 12, 2010

My Dreamy Mondays – Down the Toilet

Let me start off by saying that I thought potty training would be relatively tough, mainly because I am a full-time working mom (well, for 3 more weeks at least – but I didn’t know that I would be able to be a SAHM until recently). And because I always heard boys were harder to train than girls and because I had a little experience with it and knew it wasn’t always as easy as you think it should be... I wasn't expecting it would be a cake walk.

Our 4 year old niece is a super smart little girl, she knew the entire alphabet at 1 year old and at 4 years old she can identify every letter. She has always been an early talker and all and by 2 (probably earlier but she's not my daughter so I really can't remember) she knew when she had to go… but she would never go on the potty. She would hold it all day if she didn’t have on a diaper, it was crazy. She was just so scared of going potty on the potty. Right around her 3rd birthday my husband and I watched her for a few days and I spent 3 hours one evening in the bathroom with her… listening to her scream and yell and cry, because she had to go and I wouldn’t put a diaper on her. It was an awful 3 hours... I felt awful, but I knew that she could do it if she just got past that first time. She finally went and has been completely potty trained ever since.

So, when our son was about 9 months or so (how awful… I can’t even remember this stuff for my one and only son! - good thing I documented everything... just can't get to it right now) I would put him on the potty while we waited the whole 20 seconds it took Daddy to make his bath… just to get him used to sitting on it. Well, around 13 months or so we were in his bedroom and he walked up to the bathroom door and pointed. I asked if he wanted to use the potty and he got all excited and shook his head ‘yes’. So I took off his pants and diaper and put him on the potty and sure enough he peed. After this milestone, I starting asking him at most diaper changes if he wanted to use the potty. Sometimes he says yes and other times he just acts oblivious to what I’ve said (silly boy… most kids his age love the word ‘No’ and yet that is the only one out of his 60+ word vocabulary that he barely ever uses). Anyway, no pressure, if he says yes we(he) sit on the potty and if he doesn’t say yes, then we just continue with the diaper change and sing or talk about something different. Even when he says yes, he often does nothing, but there have been a couple of times here and there when he has done pee or poo. I just chalk that up to coincidence.

Well, this weekend was huge (in my opinion). Saturday morning after he woke up I asked him about potty before changing his diaper and he said “potty”… so I put him on and he pees. Yeah C! Later, before his nap, I was walking him and he points to the bathroom and starts grunting (a fake grunt) so I ask him and he says “potty”… so I put him on and he poops. Again, Yeah C! Sunday morning and afternoon… the same thing as the day before. Then before bath we put him on and his daddy asks him to show him how he goes pee-pee. C says pee-pee, looks down, then pees! Then Daddy asks about poo and same thing (only with some grunting). YEAH C! After his bath I pick up a clean diaper and he shakes his head no and waves his hands to push the diaper away. I ask if he wants potty again and he says yes. I think “yeah right… now we’re just playing”, but whatever, I'm game :) Back to the potty we go and he pees again! Wow C… I am so amazed by you everyday! I would have never thought Little C would pick up potty training this easily… with me barely doing anything to lead him! He really is the greatest son in the world, not just because of this, just because he is always so easy going and happy and so easy with everything. I should have known that he would get this potty thing without much assistance from me and his daddy… he just does everything at his own pace on his own. He got rid of his pacifier on his own at 8 months, off his bottle on his own at 12 months and going to sleep on his own (to the point where he didn’t even want to be rocked… and without ever using the cry-it-out method) by I can’t even remember how many months - it has been that long… of course there are exceptions every now and again.

Could he really be this easy to potty train??? What a dream come true that would be. My mom said "that's great... but what about all those cloth diapers you bought that you are so excited about using"... well Mom, we'll just have to have another baby :) Anyway, I don't want to pressure him. He is only 15 1/2 months old and I am still working full-time... so if he continues at this rate, maybe after me being home with him (in 3 weeks!) and he has this consistency every day we might have him trained in a few months, but if not, then we don't. Either way, he is still the best!

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