I walked into the bathroom one day to see this:
In other news, Ethan loved going to our free county fair, where we rode a horse-drawn wagon. . .
Potty Training Tales. . . .
The process has gone well, if you ask me. Overall. There has been brown stuff on tile and wet pants and a little crying and Swedish Fish and LOTS of soap, but overall, it's gone well.
A year or more ago (months before Kate came along) we had Ethan sitting on the potty, and his interest peaked at about 20 months of age, and then it went downhill for a year or more. I had started to wonder if we should have pushed the use of the toilet more back then, but at the time I wasn't sure I wanted to give up the convenience of diapers. Who wants to madly look for a bathroom in the middle of the mall, urgently hoping to avoid a wet catastrophe? Much less with a newborn around. I didn't mind changing diapers for two kids.
I figured I preferred to wait until Ethan was 2 1/2 or so (or 3, or whatever ended up working for him), and hopefully he'd be interested again someday and things would go smoothly.
I had heard that it takes three good days of training (including lots of juice, stickers, and m&m's). So, as soon as our traveling was done and I knew I had three days to devote to bathroom time, we went for it.
One day, Tim came home and wondered what exactly I had done all day, seeing as our bed was covered in laundry, toys were in the way, and the kitchen was a mess. Every stay-at-home mom hates this question. The answer was, "I spent at least two hours in the bathroom getting Ethan to go pee, flush, and wash his hands, I cleaned up after the messes (both toys and other 'messes') that we made, did 7 loads of laundry, made dinner, went to the grocery store, and kept Kate out of the toilet." Not a great answer, and one that Tim thought did not particularly reflect efficiency, but in the end, we have been successful, so it's cool now, and I have since cleaned the house.
Anyway, several weeks after the launch of this training program, Ethan can stay dry all day and night, he tells us when the pee is coming "down, down, down", as opposed to the times when we try to get him to go potty and he tells us the potty is "up, up, up" in his head.
The Number Two business is of course different and more difficult. One day Ethan wanted to keep his underwear on during his nap, and within 30 minutes I had changed a pair of dirty underwear, a dirty diaper, and then more dirty underwear, all from Ethan, all after which he had tried to tell me he had to go to the bathroom, all because we couldn't get him on the toilet quickly enough, and the 2nd and 3rd accidents happening because I mistakenly assumed all his poop had exited his body during the first (and then second) experiences. I wanted to be mad, but it really wasn't his fault because he was trying to tell me he had to go, and so I prayed for strength to clean up again. And I started the laundry promptly.
Anyway, finally on Thursday Ethan took the initiative, pushed me away, closed the door, and did his business in the correct way, and we celebrated. I tried to bake brownies with him, as promised, but he was more interested in riding his motorcycle.
Ethan does love to wash his hands, and one day after we rinsed all the soap off of him, I returned to the bathroom to find this. . . .
The process has gone well, if you ask me. Overall. There has been brown stuff on tile and wet pants and a little crying and Swedish Fish and LOTS of soap, but overall, it's gone well.
A year or more ago (months before Kate came along) we had Ethan sitting on the potty, and his interest peaked at about 20 months of age, and then it went downhill for a year or more. I had started to wonder if we should have pushed the use of the toilet more back then, but at the time I wasn't sure I wanted to give up the convenience of diapers. Who wants to madly look for a bathroom in the middle of the mall, urgently hoping to avoid a wet catastrophe? Much less with a newborn around. I didn't mind changing diapers for two kids.
I figured I preferred to wait until Ethan was 2 1/2 or so (or 3, or whatever ended up working for him), and hopefully he'd be interested again someday and things would go smoothly.
I had heard that it takes three good days of training (including lots of juice, stickers, and m&m's). So, as soon as our traveling was done and I knew I had three days to devote to bathroom time, we went for it.
One day, Tim came home and wondered what exactly I had done all day, seeing as our bed was covered in laundry, toys were in the way, and the kitchen was a mess. Every stay-at-home mom hates this question. The answer was, "I spent at least two hours in the bathroom getting Ethan to go pee, flush, and wash his hands, I cleaned up after the messes (both toys and other 'messes') that we made, did 7 loads of laundry, made dinner, went to the grocery store, and kept Kate out of the toilet." Not a great answer, and one that Tim thought did not particularly reflect efficiency, but in the end, we have been successful, so it's cool now, and I have since cleaned the house.
Anyway, several weeks after the launch of this training program, Ethan can stay dry all day and night, he tells us when the pee is coming "down, down, down", as opposed to the times when we try to get him to go potty and he tells us the potty is "up, up, up" in his head.
The Number Two business is of course different and more difficult. One day Ethan wanted to keep his underwear on during his nap, and within 30 minutes I had changed a pair of dirty underwear, a dirty diaper, and then more dirty underwear, all from Ethan, all after which he had tried to tell me he had to go to the bathroom, all because we couldn't get him on the toilet quickly enough, and the 2nd and 3rd accidents happening because I mistakenly assumed all his poop had exited his body during the first (and then second) experiences. I wanted to be mad, but it really wasn't his fault because he was trying to tell me he had to go, and so I prayed for strength to clean up again. And I started the laundry promptly.
Anyway, finally on Thursday Ethan took the initiative, pushed me away, closed the door, and did his business in the correct way, and we celebrated. I tried to bake brownies with him, as promised, but he was more interested in riding his motorcycle.
Ethan does love to wash his hands, and one day after we rinsed all the soap off of him, I returned to the bathroom to find this. . . .
In other news, Ethan loved going to our free county fair, where we rode a horse-drawn wagon. . .
. . . and he fed the goats. . .
. . . and he jumped and jumped and jumped on a bouncy toy, for which I do not have a picture.
3 comments:
Hurray for Ethan!!
(and his mother)
My number one lesson learned during potty training if there is a poopy accident I just threw the underwear out. I do not wash anything but wet underwear. I know it may seem silly to have to buy new underwear but I would rather spend 5 or 6 dollars to buy new ones than clean soiled ones. It helped me stay alot more calm in a stressful situation and not get upset when accidents happen. It may not work for everyone but it was great for me. Good luck. I love the beard!
I love how you documented Ethan's potty-training experiences because they are so real. You literally have to drop everything for that potty training time, and you hope that it will be worth it in the end. Ditto with Spring....if the underwear is really bad, I just throw it away. I know it sounds a little wasteful, but that is what helped me with my sanity with Harrison. (TMI, but that kid would poop 5 or 6 times a day. He must have a super fast metabolism.)
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