“Mo-mmeeeeeeee! I have to go PO-TTEEEEEEEEEEE!”
These words rush through my house as urgent and unexpected as a grass fire, and with the same potential for disaster and devastation.
It doesn’t matter if I’m elbow deep in dinner prep or coasting down the 101, I have stop whatever I’m doing and get him to the nearest toilet…. like immediately, because there’s not such thing as “thinking ahead” in the world of a three-year-old.
Now means NOW!
I try not to sigh too loudly or roll my eyes or get aggravated as I hold him over some nasty rest stop toilet… even if I DID ask him twenty times before leaving the restaurant, “Do you have to go potty? What about now? Do you have to go potty now?”… because I truly am so very proud of him.
He’s been very good about telling me when he has to go and likewise, I’ve become a pro at detecting his “tells”- the frantic darting from object to object, the nervous chattering, and of course, “Mo-mmeeeeee…..”
Scout only has the odd accident these days and it’s definitely been a process getting to this point. Only few months ago, I thought potty training would be the death of me.
At one point, I looked into purchasing Huggies… as in the company. They weren’t looking to sell.
There was one day at the playground when Scout had utterly refused to go to the bathroom only to pee in the sandbox two minutes later.
As I walked him across the field and back to the car to change clothes, a couple of Mormon boys sidled up to us.
Short-sleeved button-downs, black ties, and Bibles…
It was busy day at the park, so I must have seemed like an easy mark once I singled myself out.
Clearly, they did not notice the clenched jaw, dark muttering, or cartoon steam rising from my head, which was all I could do to express my frustrations because you’re not supposed to yell at your kid when he has an accident (or FIVE… in one day).
What you’re supposed to say is, “Oh, it’s okay, Honey. We’ll try again”… but it’s NOT okay. Not at all.
I was NOT okay with the piles of laundry or scrubbing my sofa or mopping the floor.
I was NOT okay with my house smelling like a gerbil cage or people telling me “It’ll happen. Don’t worry”.
All I wanted to do was yell at my kid about the accidents!!!
Instead, I took it out on the total strangers who unluckily decided to approach me that day.
“Look! I know what you’re selling and I’ll convert right now, if you tell me what it will take to potty train my son. Do any of your Latter Day Saints have any teachings on THAT?”
… and with that, they offered to pray for me and ran away. Quickly.
I don’t know if they prayed for me or not, but Scout certainly improved on the potty training front and I found an effective way to chase off people trying to convert me.
My past techniques for both mostly involved holy water and hissing.
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I thought it would take FOREVER for my on to be potty trained. Luckily, he was out of diapers by the time he started kindergarten. It will happen, and it sounds like he is ‘right there.’
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Yes, it does get easier. I know one thing that worked with our daughter was not to ask her if she had to go, but to tell her she had to try to go. We’d do it every 3 hours. By the time she was four years old, we didn’t have to ask anymore, but before long car trips, we will say she has to try to go to the bathroom before we leave.
But yes, they don’t go to kindergarten in diapers, so no matter what you do, they will get it by then! And I love what you said to the religion sellers!!!!
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Oh boy can I relate. The word “frustrating” is such an understatement when you try to coax them to just give the potty a try only to hear pee dripping from the booster chair thirty seconds later.
We once had some Mormons approach us with this opening gambit: “Wouldn’t you like to be sealed in the temple with your beautiful family?”
No. I do not want to be sealed in anywhere with a kid who can’t contain her water. I mean, how would we go about building an ark?
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I totally feel like you did a couple months ago…Izzy very seldomly tells me when she needs to go..she just peed all over her desk today, and the wet panties didn’t really bother her!
Uggghhh!
Glad it’s working out for Scout and you will only have one kiddo in diapers!
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This is a little off topic, but…..When my boys were little, I babysat part-time for my friend’s 2 kids….so I had 4 kids in diapers. Honestly, it wasn’t a big deal. It was a hell of a lot better than spending half my life in the bathroom wiping butts or cleaning accidents off the floor!
I’m quite sure you’ve thought of this already, but I’m going to throw my 2 cents in here. For my daughter (my 3rd child), we tell her, “You don’t have to pee, but you do have to try.” She fought and resisted at first which resulted in me holding a screaming, flailing, half-naked child on the toilet, but now she understands that this is a non-negotiable part of the getting-ready-to-go-out process. Also, try turning on the faucet for a minute. The running water sound has worked a million times in this house!
In case you’re getting discouraged, my boys both refused to train until they were 3.5 yrs.old. I got fed up and tossed out the diapers and informed them that the bathroom is “over thattaway” if you feel the urge. They were trained in a weekend. My daughter trained at 2.5 yrs. in much the same way. Once she felt the pee run down her leg and pool under her feet, she was sufficiently grossed out and made a MUCH bigger effort to get to the potty on time.
Good luck!!!
Blah…potty training for The Little Man has been a total bust:( Honestly, I feel like he has peed everywhere in the house. I need help!
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Please tell me you really did say that to them, lol!
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I’m glad you’re having some success now! I’m planning on starting with Melody tomorrow…I have lots of alcoholic beverages on hand in case I need them. Oh, and extra clean panties too.
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I’m glad you’re having some success now! I’m planning on starting with Melody tomorrow…I have lots of alcoholic beverages on hand in case I need them. Oh, and extra clean panties for her too.
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