Potty-training was going pretty well for toddler boy until about two weeks ago. For some reason, he decided he no longer wanted to use the potty. As announced by him, “I going to be a baby again!” I’ve heard that kids can regress during potty-training, and that it can be completely normal. Fine. But I personally think it’s laziness on toddler boy’s part. I think he gets so busy playing that he simply doesn’t want to take a break to potty. Instead, he would rather have a catch-all if you will, so that he can continue playing without interruption. There have been several times when I’ve said, “Let’s go potty”, to which he replied, “No, I not have to potty right now.” Within minutes, he would pee or poop in his diaper. Yes, I know now that I should have insisted he go on the potty and not just take his word for it…but I was trying to not be overbearing. Didn’t work.
This past weekend, we let toddler boy pick out his very own underwear. We thought that might encourage him to start going on the potty again. We told him that when he goes a full week without peeing or pooping in his pull-ups or diapers during the day, he could start wearing big boy underwear. He seemed very excited and motivated at the prospect of wearing his Cars underwear. In fact, he proudly clutched them tightly in his arms throughout the rest of our shopping adventure, reminding us every so often that he was going to be a big boy now, not a baby. We let him try them on when we got home, hoping that might seal the deal even tighter! He was so excited. He even ran to our full-length mirror to get a closer inspection – front, back, front, back. We just knew this was the motivation he needed!
Not an hour later, toddler boy peed in his pull-up. Not what we were hoping for. Plan B – I told Kelli that since I was at home with toddler boy everyday, I wanted to try a technique that I’ve heard about – “naked from the waist down”. Kelli’s immediate reaction was that she didn’t want our toddler running around without pants on everyday. I assured her that I would of course put pants on him if we left the house and that this technique would hopefully not last more than a week because it would magically work!! She finally relented.
Today has been the first official ‘naked from the waist down’ day. I even told toddler boy that one of our bathrooms is officially his bathroom now. Our house used to be a daycare, so one of our bathrooms is actually built for little ones – small toilet, low sink, etc. Because toddler boy is quite small for his age, I still had to place a step stool by the toilet in order for him to reach it by himself. I told him that if mommy was busy with baby girl, or making lunch, etc…he could just go on in by himself now. We even did a practice run so he knew how! I successfully got toddler boy to go on the potty four times from 8:30am-11:30am. Piece of cake! I’ll have him fully potty-trained by the end of the week, no problem! Quite pleased with how things were going, I decided to get some things listed on eBay so I could earn some money to get my hands on that diet coke I’ve been eyeing! I let the kids play in the back room (which is right next to the office that I was working in) and watch a little PBS Sprout.
At noon, I noticed it got very quiet in the back room. I got up from my desk and quietly entered the room to see how the kids were doing. I noticed baby girl sitting on the floor next to the sofa playing in water. I figured she must have shaken her sippy cup yet again to create a puddle to play in. The girl LOVES to play in water (especially the dog’s water)! On the sofa sat naked from the waist down toddler boy, hiding his face in his hands. I know this look. I know this look well. This look means I did something terribly naughty and I’m going to hide so I can’t see your disapproving look. Then it hit me. That wasn’t water that baby girl was playing in…it was PEE! I will admit it…I almost threw up in my mouth a little bit. I’m somewhat of a germophobe, not to mention I get grossed out easily. You would think that having two little ones would have cured me of that…but no…I still have my moments. I calmly picked baby girl up just right so that the pee dripping from her body didn’t touch me. I carefully undressed her and gave her the quickest bath ever. I then popped her into her baby bed so that she would stay out-of-the-way. I went back into the back room armed with paper towels and Clorox wipes. The entire time, toddler boy is just sitting there with his head buried in his hands.
Once the area was thoroughly disinfected, I had a heart-to-heart with toddler boy. Although he never did verbalize why he peed on the floor, he did show an enormous amount of guilt and shame. He definitely knew he shouldn’t have done that. I told him that I know sometimes it’s frustrating to stop what you’re doing to go to the bathroom, but that everybody has to do it. I gave him some silly examples of people doing things, and then mentioned that they had to pee, and had toddler boy choose the correct solution. For example, and I apologize Papa, I gave him the scenario of Papa mowing. “Papa is mowing his yard, and all of a sudden he has to pee. Do you think he just pee’s on the riding lawn mower, or do you think he stops to go inside and pee?” Toddler boy got me on this one. He said Papa could just pee outside on the fence (because we once let toddler boy pee outside when we were playing in the sprinkler). But I think he got the point of my exercise…to stop what you’re doing and go potty.
After lunch, I took baby girl into the bedroom to change her diaper before putting her down for a nap. I asked toddler boy to go potty before his nap as well. Once I got baby girl down, I went to check on toddler boy. As I approached his bathroom, I knew something questionable had happened due to the fact that toddler boy’s face was in his hands again as he sat motionless on the potty. I looked down, and the floor, toilet, and step stool were covered in pee. I did much better this time in that baby girl wasn’t playing in it! I still don’t know how that happened as toddler boy wouldn’t fess up, but I think maybe he just didn’t get his, umm….pee-pee, tucked in enough. That’s what I’m sticking with anyway. The thought of him purposefully peeing yet again on the floor just makes me too agitated.
He’s now down for a nap. I only hope the 2nd half of the day goes smoother than the first. Did I say I could have him fully potty-trained by the end of the week?! I reserve the right to change that declaration at any time! 🙂
Welcome to my blog! I have a partner and two beautiful foster kiddos who all mean the world to me, so they are what I usually blog about! If not them, then I may write about some of my passions - scrapbooking, reading, writing, friends, animals, decorating, and crafting. Hope you enjoy!
Mommy Diaries Blog 
Get used to the mess…boys don’t get any better! I’ve given up!
I wouldn’t worry about it too much just yet. Gabe didn’t get it all figured out until this past month–in the second month after turning three. It was a nightmare, but for him most of the problem was pooping. Gabe had peeing sort of worked out for awhile before he got the second part worked out–but even then, he averaged an accident every couple of days. We’ve had about a month with no problems now, but it really was like most people kept telling us: “When he’s ready, it will just sort of happen.”
The turning point, I think, was when we started bribing him. First we used M&Ms. He got two for peeing, five for pooping and an extra one if he told us he needed to go without us pestering him. Then, when this still didn’t work for the number twos, we got desperate. We let him pick out a toy at Wal-Mart and told him he could have it if he went an entire week without an accident. And, once he did it, we really haven’t had any accidents since then (though I don’t know if that’s just because he finally grasped the concept or because the bribery actually worked).
Hang in there! It will get better. And, like me, just hope that it really is easier with girls like everyone keeps saying.