Potty Time!

What a roller coster of a few days! I've seriously been DREADING potty training. I've "started" twice before, but wasn't ready (notice I said I wasn't ready, not Brent?!) The VERY first accident he had, I would immediately say "Ok. He's not ready." And then I would put a diaper on him and say "I'll try again next month."

But I realized that he actually probably IS ready, I REFUSE to have THREE kids in diapers, and he starts preschool twice a week in the fall! The combination of those 3 things made me finally buck up and get ready to get down to business.

Day 1- He "accidently" went on the potty right off the bat. I put his potty chair in front of the TV and he was sitting on it when all of a sudden he yelled "Oh no! I spilled!" So funny! So Scott ran downstairs, and we jumped and clapped and cheered for him. That's all it took for him to put 2 and 2 together. The rest of the day, he only had one MINOR accident- he started to go on the tile, then immediately said "Oh no!" and ran full speed to sit on the potty. He even went #2 on the potty (his FIRST day of training!! So exciting!) I was on him like a hawk, though and I was exhausted at the end of the day. I literally didn't take my eyes off of him for 2 seconds. We put a diaper on him for bed time and I was ready for round 2 the next day.

And did I mention we were bribing the kid like CRAZY?! I let him have practically whatever he wanted if he would go in the potty... Scott went and got some french fries from McDonalds for him (easy to bribe Brent with, he loves french fries), M&M's, marshmellows, you name it. Probably not the smartest now that I think about it- my 3 year old might be potty trained but he'll be obese from all the junk he is eating while we bribed him into it!

Day 2- I must have been crazy to think I was going to get off THAT easy!! The problem we experienced (and still are experiencing) is that he waits until LAST minute, then yells "OH NO!" and runs full speed to his potty. He sits on it and goes pee WITHOUT PULLING DOWN HIS UNDERWEAR!! I keep trying to tell him, "Brent, you have to take off your underwear" but I don't think that is connecting and frankly, he wouldn't have time. So on Day 2 I let him run around, underwear free. I figured once we got the potty part down, we'd work on the underwear part later. From the time he woke up until almost noon, he only went ONCE, and that one time, he went on the potty! I was so excited and was thinking "What is the big deal about this potty training business?! What was I so worked up about?! This is nothin!" And at that moment, fate laughed at me.

The entire rest of the day went downhill! He did go many times on his potty, but he also went many times on the couch, carpet, and tile! And he was going like every 10 minutes?! What's up with that?! It was so disheartening! Then, my friend Josie called. We talked for a while and in her calm demeanor, she reminded me that potty training is a process and that I needed to relax. So I took a deep breath and realized she was right. She knew, and I know, it is against my nature to "go with the flow"- I'm pretty anxious and tightly wound about things, but I realized that every child potty trains, that is a process- one that could take WEEKS or months (heaven help me). So I started to loosen up as Brent wanted to go outside in the backyard. I was still on the phone and something in the back of my mind said "Don't you let him outside... he hasn't gone #2. Don't let him outside! Don't you do it!" But I was too wrapped up with my conversation to worry about it, so I let him outside (and he still didn't have underwear on!) I told Josie that things were too quiet in the backyard and I needed to go investigate. Sure enough, my instincts were right! Brent was popping a squat right next to the air conditioning unit and took a GIANT dump on my patio. Nice. I quickly got off the phone, ran inside to get things to clean up, and came outside just in time for Brent to have poo on his hands and on his shirt. So I did what any mother would do. Took a picture of it, texted my husband and said "Be VERY glad you aren't home!!"

Anyway, overall, I'm SO proud of the progress he's made in just TWO days. This weekend he had to wear a pull up because we had to go to a funeral and a few other places where potty training couldn't happen! Then Friday I fly to Texas for a few days so I'm not sure if we'll resume when I get back from Texas or if we'll jump back in the game tomorrow. Either way, I'm going to try and mellow out AND buy lots of carpet cleaner!!

Poor Sophie is having a hard time with all the attention Brent has been getting. She walks around crying, saying "I want potty!!!" and tries to sit on Brent's potty all the time. Scott's Mom brought Brent over a reward after his first day and brought Sophie a prize too- sunglasses! They haven't taken them off since. It's so cute.