POTTY TRAINING

So, I’m talking to my girlfriend on the phone and all of the sudden I smell something very poopy and the 2 year old is nowhere to be found. Normally this is just yucky, but we have begun potty training, so this is verging on disaster. I hang up, obviously, and start the search for the little guy. I find him. He is sitting on the toilet. All by himself. Alone. “So” I ask him “how’s it going?” He replies “good. I’m pooping”. Awesome! Overjoyed is a mild statement. Now, he’s not completely there yet, but what a great start!

Now, with the other one, I didn’t even start until he was, like, 3 ¾. Honestly, I wasn’t ready. All I ever heard were horror stories from people (like they were trying to trump their birthing stories or something) about how this was the worst part of bringing up children, or it took them a year of constant battles. No way. So I waited. We did the “train your kid in a day” program and it worked pretty good – but I’m glad I waited with him – he is unbribable. Seriously. How do you potty train a child that cannot be bribed? The second one – well, he’d do almost anything for a jelly bean so that has totally helped the potty training I think. The first one, if you tell him that if he gets out of bed again I’ll have to take his teddy away, and he has decided to get out of bed again he’ll come to me and hand me the teddy. Sigh. I’m glad I waited with the first one and didn’t create a horror story of potty training and I’m proud of my 2.5 year old for starting the process and making little victories every day.

I’m also proud of myself (and we parents need to say that to ourselves more) that I’m learning how to teach my children in their different ways. Ironically, although I don’t have to carry diapers, I do carry an extra change of clothing, just in case, and my purse just got bigger…