Wish me Luck

I’ve been doing this parenting gig for long enough to realize that it not only takes a lot of hard work, but there’s a lot of luck that comes along for the ride as well. Luckily we don’t end up at the hospital on a daily basis when I let my kids climb trees. Luckily nobody threw a tantrum and were all good shoppers this morning when a nice lady let us in front of her and commented frequently on what good children I had. Luckily three of my four children are potty-trained and I have no clue as to how. And so the problem presents itself. I still have one child left in diapers. To be honest, I am very happy having him in diapers. I would be very happy keeping him in diapers until he is three. And yet, he keeps trying to let me know that he has other plans.

About a month ago, he started pulling down his pants and diaper and standing in front of the toilet on a frequent basis. I put him in overalls for a few weeks and curbed that habit. The boy pees before his bath… sometimes in the toilet, but more often on the floor as he tries to stand on his tip toes and pee in the toilet. Othertimes it's in the bath. He will often make the sign for potty and run into the bathroom, stand in front of the toilet fully clothed and (I presume) pee, flush, put the lid down and wash his hands. This past week he has told me repeatedly whenever he has to go pee or poop and has been a bit bothered with me when my answer is “do it in your diaper please.” I admit, I get a few strange looks from overhearers as well. Today was the big one though. He was pounding on the bathroom door in a fit of toddler rage. I thought maybe someone was in there, so I knocked with him and when we discovered it was empty I opened it and let him in. He was pretty frantic to get his pants and diaper off. “Poop” he muttered when I had him stand. So we sat him on the toilet and, well, he pooped. He was a bit freaked out and held onto me tightly, but he did it. The other kids were thrilled and started singing and dancing and making a huge deal out of it. So I went out to the shed and got our potty seats and little potty washed and set up. He has since peed three more times, stayed completely dry and naked all evening and dragged that silly potty everywhere around the house with him.

I’m still not convinced this is happening. And it may not. We’ve had false alarms with our other boys. Miss J was pooping at 4pm daily so she potty trained herself around 14-18months of age. The boys were horrendous and I resorted to all sorts of cruel and unusual punishments in the end when they still refused to go number two in the potty. Ugh. When people ask for potty-training advice, I have none. I’m starting to follow my child’s lead… but I also know we have a big move ahead of us, and he’s only 20 months old…and, yes, he’s a BOY! So we’ll see. But it’s been a big day at our house! Lucky me.