June 16, 2009

If you attempt to fail and succeed, then what have you actually done?

This post is dedicated to my future daughter-in-law. Proof positive that I did not potty train my children at 18 months.

Last Thursday, I told Arun he would be sleeping 3 more nights and then he was done with diapers. Forever. Oh sure, he will wear Pull-ups at night and if he naps, but we call those "sleeping pants" around here. Diapers? No more.

So, Sunday was our first day sans Artificial Bodily Waste Containment. Yes, diapers. It was as messy and frustrating as I expected, but I knew this going in. Yesterday? Insanely successful. And we were out and about all damned day- haircuts, gym and a long evening spent at my friend Tari's - who incidentally has THREE potty-trained boys (ages 17, 11, and 5) who provided excellent role models for Arun. Thanks, guys! After Arun's initial Puppy Dog Pee of Excitement, he used the toilet the rest of the evening.

I do feel this has been the best method for us - this whole waiting game. Over the past year, I have had folks give me The Eye, or quietly tsk tsk under their breath as I wrestled down my 10 foot long son to change his diaper. The indication was clear, I needed to take the upper hand and show my kid who's boss. Eh. Whatever. I know my kid. He was simply not ready earlier. The main problem has always been that he is so easy-going he just does not care. Conversely, he is so easy-going that he also is not freaking out when he has an accident. So there is that, at least.

And sweet Anjali? For the first time in a year and half, she will be wearing her proper diaper size. Early on, I realized I could not keep track of two sizes of diaperage and as such, poor Anjali immediately graduated from a size 1 to a size 3. And she has been wearing a size 6 forever, even though they are too big for her. Now, she will be back to her "real" size 5. I hope all of this has not messed around too much with her body image.

Her take on all of this? She keeps telling anyone who will listen to her lies, "I hafta go pee in the potty." Which leads folks to frantically wave me down lest she have an accident not realizing that my little Monkey See is dreaming a dreamy dream. At home, she sits on her little frog potty chair while Arun sits on the real toilet and I cannot help but wonder "when did my babies grow up?" while simultaneously thinking "Yeah, right, sister. Just wait your turn. Wait. your. turn. I am not potty training two of you fools at once." Although, admittedly, it is nice to know that my days as a Land-filling Water Conservationist are drawing to a close. Perhaps, I can finally watch An Inconvenient Truth and not break out in a cold sweat.

And, finally, to the patrons of the Kansas City Costco, I would like to extend the sincerest of Sincere Apologies for the urine sample my son left in the parking lot on Sunday. Hey, at least he spared the food court.

10 comments:

LuAnn said...

Great post. I think I want to use part of it in teaching my classes this fall, so unless you tell me otherwise, I'l assume I can (giving props where it's due, of course).

kristen said...

Yea Arun! I was wondering how the potty training was going. I think Caleb is on the same track he was on. He is just not interested. Although he is starting to show some signs of being ready. He always tells me after the fact which, as with you, leads people to frantically track me down.

I'm glad to hear the "method" I am following has worked for someone else. Good for you doing what was best for Arun and not worrying about what others say.

Kelly said...

Hudson is the last kid in his class who is not potty trained. And I think he's still younger than Arun. He hasn't been ready. Sure, he's done it before bath time and we've tried the no pants trick, but he wasn't consistant and he didn't really care. It didn't really bother him that his cousins were "big boys." No amount of candy motivated him. He was just lazy about it, and I was lazy about making him and I didn't really care.

I have to say that's one good thing about his new day care, they've been encouraging him to go. And it's working out great. We've also been spending a lot of time outside in our backyard swimming pool and he knows he can't go in there. So he's been running around with nothing but shorts on most weekends. We might even graduate to underwear next week!

meno said...

I hate how potty training has become a race.

"Oh i trained Aviator at 18 months."

"Well, Moonshine trained herself at 12 months."

"That's nothing, Organic was BORN trained."

Whatevah!

Good for you for waiting until he's ready. You've saved the both of you much agony.

jodifur said...

took me a year to potty train. A year. And we started at 3.

Mamma Sarah said...

OMG you are my hero! The last week in June (June 28th to be exact) is Alex's last D week. Sure he'll have the pull-ups at nap and night, but no more D's!!! I'm so done! Hopefully he will continue to be a total trooper. So no bribes involved?

Jen said...

I'm sure I've posted this here, as well as elsewhere, and the caveat is that I only have boys and the friends that have tried it only have boys.

Just doing it is the only way. I honestly think that's your secret, far more than "waiting" or not waiting. Oldest kid, we went back and forth and diapers and not and he was more than happy to realize that life was easier for him with me changing his diaper than his walking ten feet to the potty.

Boys 2 and 3 we just did it. Lots of accidents the first day, one or two the second and none after that. Done. No bribes and actually and against our wishes they both demanded no diapers at night anymore!

Jen said...

Oh and 2 and 3 trained about 7-9 months earlier than the first kid. Part of it is that twos are more amenable than threes, as well. If you wait until three or nearly three...they've got too much thinking going on!

alimomof3 said...

We did the cold turkey method too with my oldest boys (my toddler still has some diaper time). I tied it in with their 3rd birthday. I explained that after they turned 3, they would wear underwear and go on the potty. My first had a couple of accidents in the beginning, but learned pretty quickly. My second was close in age to the first, so he did even better with a role model. We'll see how this third little guy fares in about 2 years!

Also, we never bought pull ups. I think they're a rip off (and/or marketing genius!).

flybunny said...

Yea for Arun! and thanks for the chuckle - puppy pee of excitement nearly had coke coming out of my nose!

With the oldest I waited until her teacher told me she was ready, right before she turned 3. Middle was much earlier and easier as she wanted to wear big girl panties like sissy. Tyler who knows but right now after she goes she wants to sit on the potty, then she asks for a paper towel (tp) and shoves in in the toilet and says "I'm done" so who knows when she will but I am hoping for sometime in the next year to be entirely rid of the diapers!

PS. I miss Fridays!