
I have been dreading the whole potty training struggle with my two year old for a while. He turns three in just a few weeks; and the twins are due in 12 weeks. I’ve been thinking it would be nice to have potty training out of the way before I have to spend all hours of the day and night breastfeeding; but I wasn’t sure I had the stamina to complete the task. And, with potty training, a perpetually half-completed task is worse then an unstarted task! I always use the techniques found in the book: Potty Training in Less Than A Day by … with varying success. So that was my plan: lots of juice, practice running to the potty, positive rewards, sitting on the potty every fifteen minutes. It’s pretty intensive! Well, guess what? My plans were completely revised by a little guy who really, really likes to “do it myself Mama.”
It all started when I noticed he would be dry after naps; and even sometimes in the morning. Whenever he was dry, I would have him go potty. Pretty soon, he was going potty fairly often and he was all about “do it myself Mama.” One day, we had a heart to heart. ”You know,” said I, “when (his brother) was almost three, I started telling him he couldn’t wear diapers anymore after he turned three.”
“No diapers?” asked the two year old.
“That’s right,” I answered, “when brother turned three, he started going in the potty every time and he got to wear big boy underwear.”
“Me want to wear underwear,” was his response.
“Cool underwear, with Lightning McQueen on them?” I probed, hyping it up. Of course, he answered in the affirmative to that one. What three year old wouldn’t?
“Well, on the day you turn three, you can stop wearing diapers and I’ll take you store and buy you Lightning McQueen underwear.”
“Me want underwear RIGHT NOW,” said the boy.
After going back and forth with him for a few minutes, my compromise was to promise that if he kept his diaper dry all day, we would go get him underwear at Target. I didn’t expect him to comply, but he sure did!
We’ve had a few accidents along the way, tapering off to one every few days now. Maybe we would have less if I forced Potty Training In Less Than A Day methods; but he hates all of them. No juice, no extra trips to the potty, no practice runs, thank you very much. ”Me do it myself.”
I love it when little ones take these matters into their own hands! This task I dreaded has actually turned out to be quite a bit of fun, and encouraging success.
I get a two to three month break from diapers! Life doesn’t get any better then that :).
What brings you joy as a mother? What sorts of things happened in your home this week that made your heart smile? Share with us!
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