Potty training is the worst job a mother has.
I suppose there could be more unpleasant tasks, but being in the midst of this one - I can't think of any.
Drew has just completed day two of potty training, and my washing machine and I are crying together and trying to tell ourselves that it will all be OK; we can do this.
Meanwhile, Drew is prancing around the house in fifteen different pairs of underwear a day with a great big grin on his face.
Tonight, he peed on Ethan's bed and thought it was pretty slick. Oddly, Ethan didn't seem to mind too much.
I don't have a lot of potty training experience, but really, who does? I've gotten two kids into kindergarten without diapers, so I know this is possible. Part of the problem though is that there are so many sworn-by methods out there, how is a mom supposed to know how to do this without causing psychological damage? Do we praise? Do we reward? Do we yell and scream and throw rolls of toilet paper? Every pediatrician, child psychologist, and parent has a different opinion on how this needs to be done. Well, I've got my ways, too.
Ethan was easy - he sat on the toilet, did his business, and two days later we were done and had only had two accidents, neither of which involved me donning rubber gloves and swishing Spiderman Underoos in the toilet until all the chunks were gone. Pee accidents are far easier to deal with than the poo kind.
Cameron was a different story. He was about a week shy of his third birthday and was really struggling with the concept of getting to the bathroom before anything felt squishy. I had cleaned up so much poop that I couldn't actually smell anything else anymore. So one day Andrew decided to lend a hand. Cameron pooped in his underwear, again, so Andrew carted him outside, set him down by the hose, and sprayed the poop out of his butt crack with a nice stream of ice cold water.
You might think that to be cruel and unusual punishment, but ask me how many more times he pooped his pants. Yeah. None. (Until he was eight.)
Well, it's still practically winter here, so I can't exactly haul Drew out into the yard and hose him down to remind him that we poo in the toilet, not our pants.
But the shower works really well. Too bad we're all out of warm water, huh?
I feel your pain! I'm potty training Kate right now and it sucks so bad! If you have any tips, I'd love it...like maybe how to get her to pee in the toilet.
ReplyDeleteThat is awesome! Why didn't I think of that? I can't offer much advice, as I have had just as tough a time as you at it. Ben wasn't too bad, but after months of struggling with Josh, I finally gave up on him. Then all of a sudden one day about 4 months later (not too long before his 4th brithday, sadly enough), he looked up at me and said, "Mom, I need to go to the potty." And from then on he was potty trained! And as you know, with Matt absolutely NOTHING worked until I finally told him I would take him to Disneyland if he would potty-train. Which he did. And which I did.
ReplyDeleteSo good luck to ya!
Good luck indeed! I am dreading potty training the twins. Seriously dreading it. But I will definitely remember the cold water trick! ;)
ReplyDeleteLet the adventures begin!! I feel your pain..I really do! Glad I'm not in the middle of it right now!
ReplyDeleteCold showers worked so well with all my kids! It's like they can connect the dots then... Go Drewby go (on the toilet, of course). It makes me so glad all of mine are potty trained...yikes. Like my kids...Trent will be right behind him as soon as Drew really has it down! Wee Haa...enjoy this special time in your life. :)
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