I'd like to start out with a warning, this post may have some ew, ew, ew, gross or gag reflex moments so read on at your own risk. We started potty training months ago one morning in June right after Jackson turned two. After 3 hours, 6 wet accidents, 1 "brown" accident, and 0 successes, we decided it was just too early. Our decision was also made easier when we realized Jackson was about to start his new school the following week and we have read that any changes may cause the child to regress or revert back to old ways. About 6 weeks later we decided to try again, he was fully adjusted to his new school and was showing lots of interest in the potty. Nick was on call and Jackson and I had no plans all day. We started immediately after breakfast by taking his diaper off and putting on big boy underwear. We had a lazy day and just hung out at home playing and trying to potty A LOT. He didn't do bad but also didn't do well enough for me to think he was ready. And apparently I'm not great at planning because this was the weekend before my trip to Atlanta, followed by a trip to HH, and another trip to Atlanta. So again I thought maybe I should wait a few more weeks. I know you're probably thinking I was just making excuses to put it off but trust me, I wasn't. I was only trying to be realistic and not get my hopes up.
So another month goes by and it's September and I have made sure to have a weekend free of any activities. Nick had to work nights all weekend which meant he would be sleeping most of the morning so it was just me and Jackson. At first I thought this would be hard alone and it wasn't easy but I realized Nick was more of a distraction than a help. Nick and Jackson's time together isn't always consistent or daily due to Nick's schedule so when they do have time to play, it's so special and Jackson gets overly excited...do you get where I'm going with this??? Both mornings went very well and then Nick woke up and Jackson got distracted and didn't want to leave his Daddy even for the 2 minutes it took to run to the potty. It's very cute and sweet but wasn't helping the cause. Monday we decided to go out for the very first time in our big boy underwear. Good news: he didn't pee in my car :) Bad news: within 5 minutes of arriving at the park and 5 seconds of me asking if he had to go, Jackson wet himself. We ran to the bathroom, cleaned up, sat on the potty to see if there was more to come and changed into dry clothes. And again he wet himself immediately :(
More good news, that was pretty much our last bad WET accident and it's almost been two weeks. He's doing great and we are so proud of him. We've learned some lessons along the way too, for example, if your child has kept a dry pull-up on a 3 hour car ride, put him on the potty immediately and definitely before you put him in underwear, yup, made that mistake on Friday.
Now for the not so good and extremely gross part. He will not poop on the potty. We don't know what to do. In the last couple of weeks he has had an almost in the potty which we gave him credit for and made a huge deal out of in hopes that he would connect the great feeling with going in the potty with no luck of course. On the bright side, he isn't holding it in. On the dark side, literally, it's so gross. The worst part (well maybe not the worst) is that he doesn't seem to mind. He just goes in his pants and then continues playing. Or goes in his pants and says "Mommy, poo poo is gross" and sticks his hand in his pants!!! Ugh, gag me. So far my list of things I dislike about being a mom is very short and pretty insignificant, changing crib sheets can be a pain, cutting nails is a challenge, but cleaning dirty underwear??? That one tops my list! I'm not sure how parents that use cloth diapers do it, I can't deal with it. It's also been tricky to get him out of the underwear and instruct him clearly enough as to which foot to pick up first so he doesn't step in his POO! I haven't been very successful at that part, he either steps in it or it gets all over his legs as I pull his pants off. Then of course, he wants mommy to pick him up. Sorry bud, this is one time mommy is going to say no :) He's been doing good at school but has had two dirty pants incidents at school and for some reason (feel free to comment and tell me why if you know) his teacher told me she is not allowed to clean his dirty pants. She can clean him, just not his undies. I'm guessing it's a sanitary reason but all it does is add to my gross factor. She sends him home with a pair of undies with dried up poop, seriously?!?!? Can you guess what I've done with those? Yup, those have gone right to the trash can...OUTSIDE!
There's a synopsis of our adventures the last couple of weeks. I'll post again when there's been a change. We are trying to be patient, understanding and motivating so as not to put too much pressure on Jackson which could cause him to hold everything in. And if you've made it to the bottom of this very long post, here's something to make you smile; I've been telling Jackson he's a big boy now, he wears big boy underwear, he uses the potty, etc. The other day, he said "Mommy goes to the potty, she's a big boy!"
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