Potty Training 101

Wow

The positive response to this blog is like nothing I ever dreamed. Thank you to all my “fans,” from the bottom of my heart. You all know how to make a girl feel extra special!

Now, I want to talk about something that I am currently going through and that has haunted me for quite some time- Potty Training

Sigh

With my oldest, I had no idea what I was doing. I put her in pull ups and used them as “underwear.” Hi, I’m here to tell you, they are not underwear. To a child, they feel just like a diaper. Don’t get me wrong, they are wonderful at night. I mean, who has time to clean up accidents every night. But eventually I just said “screw it” and put the dang underwear on. Or let her run around naked! She did pretty well and was trained by 2 ½. Yay me! (You have permission to laugh)

Then came my 2^nd oldest. And 16 months later, her sister came along. Anyone with multiples or kids close in age knows, there’s a lot going on when you have that many small children. But when Aislyn was about 2 ½ I thought, why the hell not add something else. She did great. I felt like I should have been given a gold star.

I’m an idiot.

We moved that fall and it all went downhill from there. My Aislyn has always been special, in many ways (I’ll get in depth about that in another post.) She was my rainbow baby. She’s also the child that needs the most attention from me, even when she doesn’t want it. She started having a few accidents here and there when we started working on our house to get it sold. Then, we had to move into a condo for 2 months before we could get into our new house. That was traumatic. She completely regressed. She was having accidents almost every time she had to go to the bathroom. At home and in public. Talk about practicing patience as a parent, wowza! It’s actually making me anxious thinking about it. And when I would talk to her about it, she would do it even more. I mean, in her defense, she was 2 ½. But, it was a good 9 months before she went back to not having accidents. Oh wait, she still sometimes does. Ugh!

My 3rd, Marley, she was great. I just let her run around the house naked and when she started doing well with that, I put her in underwear. Took maybe 2 weeks for her to get it. I think since then, she’s only had a small handful of accidents. I think God knew I needed that.

Now, my one and only boy. Just FYI, I came from a family of all girls. Like, seriously, all girls. A sister, way more girl cousins that boys, and 2 nieces. As you may guess, I do not know penises very well. I mean really, the only one I’ve ever known was my husbands, and he already knew how to use his. EY OH! KIDDING! Kinda…

ANYWAYS… I wasn’t sure how to teach a little boy to use the toilet. Stand up? Sit down? PUSH IT DOWN. I was lost. After the initial try, he wasn’t having it. We tried again 2 weeks later and it only took a few days for it to click.

Then about a month later, he regressed, like Aislyn. I can handle 1 Aislyn, not two. I may be crazy myself, but I can’t deal with THAT much crazy!

So here we are, again, throwing away crappy underwear at the park because we don’t have any clean ones in the car, and SOMEONE didn’t tell me he had to poop. Stepping in random puddles on the floor and hoping that it’s just spilled water. But I’m sure we will preserver! I may go insane before then, but I’m sure it’ll be fine. Yeah, totally fine…….

*Whispers softly* HHEELLPP

If you’re a parent whose potty training or about to start, take my advice. Or don’t take my advice. Whatever you decide to do- Good Luck & Happy Training

And if you’re someone who has “been there done that,” give yourself a pat on the back. You survived the crap! (Pun intended) 💩