Another Attempt at Potty Training...

After talking to a friend about potty training and my struggles, I decided to try her approach. It would require that I be patient. Very patient. And that I take Jayden to the potty every thirty minutes, like clockwork. I told myself that I could do it. I felt emotionally strong today and I went for it. As soon as I noticed that Jayden was grunting, I took him to his potty chair. We sat there for a long while and nothing happened so I changed him into his big boy undies and told him that he should go to the potty when he feels like he has to go.

Thirty minutes later, we are at the potty again and he still hasn’t gone. So after five minutes, we get up and keep going. I figure there’s no sense in making him sit on the potty for longer than necessary if we are going to go sit on the chair every 30 minutes. Ten minutes later, he actually goes poop in his undies. I am very mad, but I try to control myself and take him to the potty. As I clean up his mess, I explain to him that he can’t go in his undies. He has to go in the potty. “Mommy asked you if you had to go and you said no. Why? You are a big boy now. You should go in the potty like a big boy, like daddy.” I’m upset. It’s not easy for either one of us, but I am not ready to give up so I put on his next set of undies.

Thirty minutes later, we are back at the potty. He says he doesn’t have to go. Now mind you, he went poop but he didn’t go pee. So we sit a little longer. I try asking him if he would like to go like Daddy and he says yes. So I get his foot stool and put the toilet seat up and I say, ok. “Go.” He holds on to his wee and actually says "Shhhhhhhhhhhhhhh." Are you kidding me? He jumps off of the stool and flushes the imaginary pee down the toilet. “All done!” he exclaims. I hold back a laugh and put his undies back. I remind him on the way out that if he has to go, he should go in the potty.

A little while later, he says Mommy, pee-pee. I grab his little hand as we run just as fast as we can to the potty. I pull his undies down and wait. Nothing. What’s going on? I feel his undies and they are a bit wet. He leaked and held it. That part is good, I tell myself. He felt himself going and stopped the flow. But now he’s holding it even though we are at the potty and that part isn’t good. So we have the whole going-in-the-potty conversation for about the millionth time. I change his undies and we leave the bathroom.

Now it’s time for dinner. I prepare Jayden’s meal and ask him if he has to go potty one last time. He says no. He begins to eat. About 10 minutes later, he looks at me with this wild look in his eye and says Mommy, peeeeee-peeeeeeeeeeeeeee! And the floodgates opened. It was everywhere. This concluded the end of my patience, the end of my energy for the day, and the end of my stock of clean underwear. I can’t possibly imagine going back to the drawing board again tomorrow so for now, I clean Jayden and clean the mess and call it a day.