I'm happy to report that I'm two-thirds of the way finished with the 3-Day Potty Training. Heh, that kind of sounds like I'm an inmate, counting down the time until I get paroled! I am exhausted from shadowing an impossibly active toddler all day. It probably doesn't sound all that tough, but it sure is when you are completely focused on whether or not there is anything leaking from your toddler's crotch. I'm tired of repeating myself all day and I am particularly sick of the following four sentences: Do you have to go potty? + You need to let Mama know when you need to go potty. + Run, run to the potty so you can go pee. + Are you sure you don't have to go poo-poo?
I don't think it's going to be completely finished (which, to me, means always using the potty) by tomorrow evening, but I'm sticking with the plan because I'm seeing solid progress. However, depending on tomorrow's progress, I may completely change my mind.
The day didn't begin very well and, in some ways, this morning was worse than the entire day yesterday. I heard him say, "Mama," this morning and hustled to his room so I could put him on the potty. By the time I reached him, around five seconds later, he had already peed so much that his sheet, blanket, and waterproof mattress cover (thank goodness such things exist!) were SOAKED! I don't mean they were simply wet, I mean that I could have wrung the pee out - they were that drenched. And he didn't pee at all on the potty. I gave him a hug and told him bed-wetting sometimes happens.
Not ten minutes later, he walked out of my reach and began to pee on the floor. I grabbed him and ran to the bathroom, pulled down his underpants, and sat him on the potty chair. He wouldn't go. I cleaned up the mess and helped him put on a new pair of underpants. I gave him a cuddle while telling him that we all have accidents sometimes.
As we were eating breakfast together, I kept asking him if he had to go potty because I was sure he was holding a little more pee in that bladder of his. He kept eating his egg and shaking his head that he did not have to go potty. I was suspicious, but I decided to let him decide when he has to go rather than arbitrarily putting him on the toilet. We finished breakfast so I let him down and he ran off. He ran off and peed on the floor. Once again, I ran him to the bathroom, pulled down his underpants, and sat him on the potty chair.
He. Would. Not. Go. GAH!
Right about now I was feeling a bit discouraged. I wanted to scream and cry and put my head through a wall. Rather than do any of that, I chose to say a quick prayer while he sat on the potty. My son, bless his little heart, clasped his hands together as though he was joining me in prayer. I didn't ask for my baby to just grow up already. I didn't ask for him to at least squeeze out one little pee-tear. I just asked for patience and understanding. My frustration was not showing him love or giving him encouragement. So I took a step back and figured that it would be a really messy day.
You know what? Once I got my head straight, the rest of the day was fairly pleasant. Yeah, it was somewhat messy. Yeah, he went through a lot of underpants today. But we had a really fun day together. We made up a foot-stampin' & hand clappin' dance to the 1 through 10 song. We colored some more on his Elmo stickers & puzzle. We played Peek-a-Boo with this silly little plastic horse. We two-stepped around the living room. We cuddled and talked about learning new things and growing up. We put stickers on ourselves and took stickers off ourselves. I put him in the ring sling and held him close while I prepared dinner.
My son only peed on the floor a few times today and he peed in the potty chair around ten times. He caught himself having an accident and ran to the bathroom on his own at least four times. I feel so encouraged and am tentatively looking forward to seeing what tomorrow holds.
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I'm concerned that he still has not gone poo-poo. This kid is normally so regular that I could set my watch by his bowels, but it has been two days with no activity. I've been giving him juice, fruit, and vegetables in effort to move things along. He tooted as I was putting him to bed tonight and I asked if he had to go poo-poo and he said he did. I put him on the potty and he pushed out some more toots, but nothing else. I'm very tempted to put him in a diaper just so he'll poop. . .I'll give it another day and see what happens.
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