Potty Training Diaries

Caiden turns 4 in August and I just potty trained him this past month. Please don't look at me like a failure mom. I genuinely tried to train him for a whole month a year ago (last May). He started out decent, and got worse and worse. He pooped in the toilet once, didn't like that so much and pooed his underwear for a month. He also peed on the side of the couch like a dog and on my bed while using it for a trampoline, butt naked. Every time he did something like that, he would laugh and tell me something like, "I peed on your bed!" with a big smile. ha ha. I tried bribing him with things he REALLY wanted. I took away things. I did the m&m thing. That just got him to do a little tinkle every 20 minutes so he could have candy. And in between the 20 minute tinkle, he would let the rest go in his underwear. He would watch TV sitting in his pee and not tell me. One time he pooed his undies in the playroom, sat in it, and didn't care. I smelt it and asked him about it. Then he denied it and ran away. Do you get the picture? And he did not care that he was the only one his age wearing diapers. "cool... whatever" was his attitude. I couldn't bring myself to attempt it again until a year later. We "dabbled" with it, but just enough to see that he still wasn't mentally ready. I've heard about it from my family that I live next to and Chris. They were ready for Caiden to be a big boy. I told them that they could do it if they wanted:)

Then the decision was made.  As I was packing for Arkansas I decided I was only going to take enough diapers to get us off the plane and packed all of his underwear that I had bought 17 months ago. When we got to the apartment I took a deep breath and told him that he was a big boy now and to get his underwear on. He never wore a diaper again. He had about 5 accidents everyday for about 4 days.  I got a great idea to tell him not to pee on his his Toy Story underwear or Woody would be so sad. After he did it, Addysin said, "Caiden you made Woody sad!" Then Caiden looks at his underwear, gets a huge smile on his face and says, "Woody's still happy!!!" with such relief. Well, that didn't workout the way I hoped. He never told me he had to go pee for the first couple of weeks so I had to take him every hour or else he would let it go in his pants. He could definitely hold it for a long time, though. The first sign of progress was when he started pinching it. Sorry to be graphic, but I was SOOOO excited that he finally realized he needed to keep it in him or sit on the toilet.

The first time we were somewhere without a bathroom was a week into potty training, at a Frisbee golf park(so nobody was nearby, don't worry). I told him he would have to pee on a bush. I tried to help him and he was not going to do that! 20 minutes later I am looking for him and I see him totally pant-less and peeing on a tree. He obviously was contemplating it that whole time and decided to go for it. Then a week later we are at the pool and I cant find him. I find him trying to button his pants back up outside the pool area. I ask him what he is doing and he says, "I peed on my feet, that's so great!" super super excited. I say, "what?! you had an accident?" He says, "No, I peed on my feet in the grass, that's so great!!!" well, I guess that's much better than wet pants :/ After the first week, he only had two pee accidents (in the same day). He tried dropping his pants at a water park in Branson, MO. Chris wouldn't let him. He picked out a bush and everything. Another time we are at the pool and I'm nursing Jocelyn so I'm useless for a few minutes. He is running around, but cant get into the bathroom without a key. There are only a couple people sunbathing and not watching so I tell him to pee on a bush. He says, "OK, what bush mom?" ha ha, I guess he puts a lot of thought into what bush is going to get a watering. The bad part is that he is not discreet. He HAS to take everything off from the waste down.

As for poo... you might get a kick out of this: Like a lot of potty training kids, he went #2 on the toilet once at the beginning of potty training (after holding it for 3 days) and decided he didn't like doing that.  So the next time, he hides in his closet and lets his underwear have it. Being in a tiny apartment is perfect for always knowing what your kids are up to. Every time I couldn't hear Caiden, I would drop whatever I was doing and sprint to his closet. I usually caught him in time. The third time he went was traumatic. We were at the community pool and we all went into the bathroom. He went and then left the bathroom. I stayed in there a few minutes to feed Jocelyn. I got out to check on them in the sand box (volley ball pit) and I smell something disgusting, hear Caiden crying, and couldn't put two and two together until I spot him standing butt naked by the vending machine (in a secluded corner of course) with poo on the ground and smeared all over him. What on earth was he thinking?! I stayed calm for 2 reasons. 1) I didn't want anyone to look and see what was going on by the pop machine 2) He is the typical naughty boy that likes to get a rise out of his mom. I let him know that that was not OK, totally disgusting, and not where you do the doo doo. I got him all cleaned up and headed home. I thought to myself, "well maybe this was so traumatic to him that he will never do something like this again" so I asked him, "Caiden, where do you go poo now?" A naughty little smirk came over his face and he mumbles, "In the grass. "  After that he would still hold it for days at a time, but he never had a #2 accident again.

Victory. So sweet.

I just have two things to say. When a parent says that their child just isn't ready to be potty trained and he/she is nearly 4, just take their word for it. Dont judge. And thank you for all those that encouraged me and told me he would come around someday. He did. FINALLY!