Even before I became a parent I’d heard the advice: “Don’t push potty training. Wait until they are ready and it will happen overnight.” I devoted myself to this advice and allowed it to paint my parenting toilet-training fantasy… In it, Will gently, softly enters our room in the soft glow of morning light (ie: after 8am) and pleasantly announces: “Good morning, Mother. Good morning, Father. I would like to tell you that as of today, in this very moment, I no longer require a diaper. I will use the toilet without fail each and every time from now on. And I will never forget to wash my hands afterwards.” It’s really a great dream, especially because he makes this wonderful announcement while serving us breakfast in bed. (When I dream, I dream BIG.)
Will is now three and ready for potty training. And I’m learning that it is not so easy.
Will has been telling us he’s ready for underwear for weeks. He’s asked for underwear. Dug undies out of his drawer and undressed himself to put on underwear. Sat on the toilet for half an hour waiting to do something so that he could show he was ready for underwear. Begged and pleaded for those cute little underpants! Will could not have cared less about saying goodbye to Pampers… Paul and I were the ones freaking out. It was a great surprise to realize how important an absorbent core was to our daily lives. We couldn’t say goodbye, just taking it away was too much, too soon. We needed time, we weren’t ready. We rationalized it in so many ways: he was still wetting the diaper; it was the holidays; what if he has an accident on my Mom’s rug(!); we have to take a ride in the car today… and more. There are so many excuses.
Finally, after some advice and support from our knowledgeable Abeona teachers, we gained the courage to try. So, for the past three weeks, we’ve tried a variety of suggested strategies… Will running around nude, Will wearing underwear for short time frames, Will wearing both underwear with a diaper or pull-up over (to reduce mess), and finally, Will sporting nothing but the undies.
It has not been that bad… so far. Will is very good at identifying when he has to make a bowel movement. We’ve had two accidents of this type. The other stuff, “tinkle” in our household lingo, is still a challenge for The Little Man.
Yesterday was the Big Day. As of yesterday, we’ve got an undies-only 3-year old. This was a really big day for Will. In addition to wearing his pirate underwear (could there be any other kind?), this was also his first time staying a full day at school (until 3ish). He did pretty well. Three accidents at school… but zero at home. Today was much improved. One accident before leaving for school this morning (possibly two, but Will claims he spilled some milk from his cereal), one accident at school, and one accident in the waiting room at the doctor’s office this afternoon. Pretty decent. He still sleeps with a diaper at night, I figure we’ll keep the night pull-up or diaper for awhile… this is a tough one for little guys from what I understand.
So goes our first foray into potty training. I would LOVE suggestions and insight from anyone reading who has successfully potty trained a child… especially a boy!
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