Potty Training, "What's That?"

Daniel is only 33 months, but we went ahead and started Daniel potty training. I've read all about (and heard from many) how boys tend to train later than girls and they are usually at least 3 years old or older before it "clicks". We also have the added concerns/trials with Daniel medical history (urinary reflux, enlarged bladder, etc. which I talked about here).

However, at out last appointment with the urologist, I specifically asked them whether or not we should even bother with potty training or if we should hold off. He told me to go ahead and move forward instead of holding him back and hopefully everything will be fine and we'll be headed in the right direction.

What prompted us to do this was the fact that Daniel's daycare sent a letter home to us a couple of weeks ago stating that Daniel had shown enough interest in the potty, even to the point of ripping off his diaper and running to the potty, that they wanted to take him and 4 or 5 other little boys about the same age and begin potty training them. First of all, Daniel ripping off his diaper and running to the potty made me laugh. At home I have to beg him to go before bath time, depending on his mood, but I assure you he has never, ever just taken off for the potty before! Second of all the twist is that they would jump right from diapers to underwear, no pull-ups in between and we were to also keep it up at home.

After considering this fully, especially given Daniel's medical condition and the fact that he is on a bladder relaxer, and going back and forth in my head and out loud to anyone in the family who would listen, I kept coming back to what the doctor said. Move forward, not backward.

So, we did it. I started Daniel in pull ups while he was home with pneumonia. We weren't under any pressure, we couldn't go anywhere, and I just wanted to introduce it, not force him to go, not be mad if he didn't go, and reward him when he did. We are now completely in underwear, except for long car rides or out shopping, although I keep close tabs on the pull ups and we run to bathrooms constantly. The verdict:

It's sortof working.

What I mean by sortof is this: If I take Daniel to the potty every 30 to 45 minutes, he goes, he stays dry and we're all happy. If I don't and Daniel's busy, he wets his underwear and pants and everything in between and keeps on playing. He could care less about being wet. So even though we've made progress the last week and barely used any diapers or pull ups (YAY!) I'm constantly in the bathroom with him. The other problem is that I don't really think he gets it. He only doesn't wet himself because we go so often. So, I'm going to slowly take the 30 minutes and turn them into 45 minutes and then 1 hour to see if he'll start notifying me when he needs to go potty. I'm beginning to believe he just isn't ready yet, but after all the work we've done, and money saved due to not buying diapers/pull ups, we might as well keep it up. And in case you're wondering we have M&Ms as a reward and stickers with a chart. While he enjoys those, so far it's not enough to warrant him stopping play and announcing the need to go to the bathroom!

Oh and he doesn't want to use his little potty anymore and he doesn't want to use the ring from the little potty seat on the big potty so now we use only the big potty and he sits all the way at the back and goes with his legs straight forward over the front. Too funny!

As for the "What's that?" (I bet you thought it had to do with the potty training, but it doesn't)!! It's just something that Daniel constantly says now. Any sound he hears, he stops, looks at me and says "What's that?" Any thing he isn't familiar with, he stops, looks at me and says "What's that?" It's very amusing and the way he says it is rather cute!

Last night he grabbed the sugar bag on the counter while I was unloading groceries and pulled it to him and hugged it. Then he looked at me and said word for word, "Mommy, I looooooveeee sugar." "I just bet you do," was all I could say while laughing.

Lately I'm also getting a lot of "Mommy, hold you" and he reaches for me. He's been putting his arm around me and kissing the top of my head when we sit together on the couch to read and treating me like I'm his baby now. It's so sweet. He's been having me carry him into day care each morning and last week he cried when I left one day. It's interesting the phases he goes through.

His latest favorite toy is a pillow. He takes pillow cases off all the pillows in the house and then wanders around carrying at least one, if not more, pillows. He then sits on it, lays of it, puts it on top of his riding toys, he even takes it to the potty with him. Just another thing I find amusing!

I'll leave you with my favorite potty training picture of Daniel – you know the one us moms plan to blow up at their wedding – well, here it is, when he used to use the little potty!! He's not really asleep, but it was entertaining while we waited!