I felt the call of the bell about to ding. Round 4 in the "Potty Training" ring. I was hoping for a knock-out victory, for MY side! Potty training is an interesting animal, to say the least. I never spend so much time looking between my kids legs as I do during this eventful time. I almost feel guilty for staring!
When my first child passed her second birthday I began to panic. I'd never taught anyone how to go to the bathroom! Was I committed to a half to a full year of following her around asking her if she has to go? I am actually not a schedule kind of personality(though I do it now for sanity sake), so I didn't know how I was going to accomplish this major feat! I did not want to pay even more for Pull-Ups than I already was for diapers, so how did I take all my desires and match them up with teaching this two year old how to be independent and diaper-free? At this point, I decided to ask around and see how others were doing this.
I owe much credit to my dear friend Lauren Harris. She has been the recommender of two books that I live by next to the Bible as a mom. 1. How to Toilet Train in Less Than a Day and 2. Teach Your Child To Read in 100 Easy Lessons. I have used these two books on 3 children successfully, and now it was Jacob's turn for book #1.
Now don't get me wrong, my toilet training record is not entirely 3 for 3 on the Less Than A Day method. My first two children, one a girl and one a boy, went like clockwork and unfortunately, puffed up my pride to boot! Sarah was 2 and 3 months when I trained her in one morning. She only had a handful of accidents altogether(one in front of John MacArthur at DisneyLand) and was allergic to Pull-Ups anyhow. She trained through naps and the night from day 1-YES! SUCCESS!!! With Daniel I wasn't going to push him a day before he turned 3, but at 2 and 9 months, he asked me. He also had only a handful of accidents and trained through naps and the night from Day 1 using only a dozen or so Pull-Ups for car rides to church.
Two years later it came time for Lizzy to be trained. She is smart as a whip being child #3. I reviewed all the "Potty readiness" checklists and she passed them all. She seemed ready, willing and able. Unfortunately, there is no box on the "Potty readiness" checklists for STUBBORN! This lovely characteristic had not shown its face to me too clearly yet, but after she was trained for one whole month, she decided to revert! Oh, the agony when Marc and I decided it would be better to go buy Pull-Ups than to keep up with her constant mess. She generally did OK but then, everytime we saw my parents, she would revert again. Crazy child. For 8 months we went back and forth with her-the one time we went to my parents and the few times they visited us. Oh, the manipulation!
So now, here I am again, 2 1/2 years after that nightmare, facing the fight ring and wondering how it will work itself out this time! Jacob is 2 and 9 months, just like Daniel was when he was trained. He is the size of a 4 year old but has been slower to speak clearly since his body was too busy getting huge! A month ago I picked a clear week in February to set aside to do nothing but potty train him and keep him near the potty. I took the kids to the sitter's(Thanks, Sharon) bright and early Monday morning with their schoolwork in hand and came home to train Mr. Moose. I pumped that kid with 3-9 oz Sippy Cups full of chocolate milk, then let him start sipping on an orange soda. NOTHING! We practiced teaching the dolly-that-wets how to go potty, how to empty the little pot into the big pot and flush, practice trials for wetting her pants---still NOTHING! Not until 10:50 did the boy finally go! Talk about bladder of steel! Training him has presented a new challenge: how can he practice and learn in the typical 4 hours when he only goes once every 4 hours??? So although he didn't train in one morning, it honestly has been a good week of training with him. He is a scheduled pee-er and works like clockwork. He handily goes all at once and not frequently like a girl. He is highly motivated by M & M's and verbal praise. It also helps that he has 3 older sisters and brothers that cheer on his every victory! It has only been 5 days now, but he has only had 2 accidents all week. I decided to keep him in Pull-Ups for sleeping because of his immaturity, but yesterday and today, he stayed dry during his nap! Hooray! He has NEVER stayed dry during a sleeping time in his whole 2 1/2 years. I think his brain in communicating with his bladder-SUCCESS!
So for #4, I am calling this one (so far) a decent victory!
I'll let you know next week if the success remains.
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