"Poo-poo comin' out!"
So the potty training is in full force, and I have to say, I'm rather impressed with how quickly David has gotten the hang of things. As with all issues and milestones around parenting, it's very difficult to gauge whether one's child is early or late with anything since the absolute truth is hidden behind a need to compete or brag or over/understate in some form or other for reasons not clearly known.

If I were to be very honest, I'd say that potty training has been easier than expected. There was probably a month of set-up. The potty was purchased almost 2 years ago, just so that its presence in the bathroom would not itself introduce any anxiety from the sheer novelty. But the day I started putting him on the potty with clear expectations of what should happen (though still with the diaper on), I'd say that went on for a few weeks. Then the build-up of a reward (a Hot Wheels size monster truck, new in box) perched ever so visibly on a shelf from where he sits on his potty. The constant talking through the process. The grunting, the making of faces (all by me of course) to help out the product and to make the whole thing light and amusing (perhaps only for my own benefit).

It got to the point where he was sitting on the potty for 45 minutes, just playing with his cars, singing, reading, with no end product.

Suddenly, one day, not just any day, but the day after Christmas 2009, he sat on the potty for what I had assumed would be at least 15 minutes, and he said "poo poo comin' out!" And sure enough - it was a U-shaped humdinger that forced me to see right then and there that my baby made an adult sized poop. There was screaming, there was shouting, there was yelling, cheering, and since it was the holidays, everyone ran into the bathroom to tell David what a great job he had done, grandma, grandpa, ee-moh - there was no shortage of cheers.

Now that 3 weeks have gone by since that wonderful day, it feels appropriate to take stock of how much has been accomplished. He is now in underwear. Honest to goodness underwear - the kind that will soak through completely if he decides to pee in it - and thank goodness has only done that once (during a nap, which is totally understandable). He has upgraded to a seat attachment onto a real toilet - an unexpected development that occurred when he announced a week ago that he needed to pee while I was at a restaurant, totally unprepared (had plenty of diapers on me, though, as I was still in "that mode"). Now I no longer have to clean out a separate potty seat, since he insists on going into the toilet (this is usually a major next step that needs to be worked toward - but he nailed it early. Yay!) He will now ask to go to the potty when he needs to, signaling to me that he's actually paying attention the signals his body is giving him that he has to go. While on the toilet, he'll say "poo-poo comin' out!", sometimes following it up with "a BIG one!" or a modified "a HUGE one!" which is just so totally hilarious. He also understands that closing the seat, flushing, and moving his stepstool from toilet to sink to wash his hands is part of the process (btw: never too soon to connect the whole toilet - handwashing thing). He enjoys pulling his sleeves up, testing the water temperature, and pumping the soap onto his hand. The best part of this whole thing (other than the obvious no-poo-cleanup factor) is that he now only uses one diaper per day (at his peak, he used 15 diapers a day) and that is only for when he goes to bed, and more for my convenience in case he pees. Most mornings, we wake up and look at his diaper to see if he kept it dry (he usually does) and I'll celebrate by saying "look, no pee pee!!" and he beams with pride.

He is all set now to go to preschool (and the top choice has a requirement to be trained by the day he starts), and what started off as a potentially stressful experience turned out to be quite reasonable, and frequently amusing and enjoyable.
- posted by Connie @ 1/15/2010 02:20:00 PM