I haven’t updated on Alexander’s potty training in awhile.
Reason being – not much had changed. Until last week.
I don’t know what happened. What occurred. What suddenly made him decide it’s time. But overnight – like a fish to water – he started peeing on the potty. No accidents. No crying. No messes. Just a boy and his potty.
My husband and I are extremely happy… but can’t get over the fact that he obviously knew what to do for awhile, but just thought taking his time would be more fun. Thanks, Alex! 🙂 But in all seriousness, like everyone kept telling me, he just got it… and that day finally came. For peeing.
For the other thing that occurs in the bowels of humans. Oh, my. That is another story.
He has found it – dare I say, amusing – that he poops in his pants, but pees on the potty. Yes, amusing. I have been greeted with a smile and a laugh for the past week in “big boy undies” that “I pooped, Mommy!” Like it’s a really, really good thing. Which it is. Just not in his undies. Something we have told him about 500 times the last week.
So today I took William and Alexander to my girlfriend’s pool club. (Jane, thank you for staying with Benjamin and Henry – I owe you!) I decided that I would try the trip without a diaper on Alexander. After all, he did the “deed” before we left and the pool was only 5 minutes away.
Off we went.
We were there for an hour and a half. I swear it was every 10 minutes – but in actuality… I kept asking Alex every 30 minutes if he had to go to the bathroom. “Nope… I’m OK Mommy.” I kept checking his bathing suit… and yes, he did seem to be “OK.”
Well… then I saw the red face. The hunch-over stance. And the closed eyes. Oh, and the grunt.
I guess we all know our child’s “sign.” That was Alex’s. UGH! Yes, right in his bathing suit. At the playground.
To the bathroom we went… I tried to be as calm as I could be – I know he’s a little guy. But – COME ON! A yucky mess on a hot summer day – in a wet bathing suit. You do the math.
Cleaned it up. Done. He said “sorry” about 20 times in the bathroom. And he promised he would tell me next time he felt ANYTHING coming on.
20 minutes later we walked through our door. Off went Alex to the bathroom. I’m thinking to myself… “He’s got it now… he can pee AND poop on the potty. As I went to see if he needed any help… I saw a little trail. And no, they weren’t rocks.
UGH!… and EWWW!
Mommy to the rescue…
You know, you neighbor had trouble like this with her son, and finally reached the point where she made him clean up the mess after pooping in his pants. (at home in a bathroom so she could easily clean whatever he didnt afterwards) She said after two times having to wipe his own hiney and clean out his undies and put it in the toliet he never messed in his pants again. I dunno, since my oldest is two and I can blissfully still pretend I will not have to ever potty train, but it might be worth a try….
whoops, I can’t edit, but when I said “you neighbor” I meant “my neighbor”.
Oh boy. Literally. My son was the same way. Got the peeing thing down pat but the pooping took some time. It drove me nuts. Like the rest, he just got it one day. Thank God. I was starting to consider selling him to gypsies. 🙂
My daughter seemed to have the same “aha” moment last week as well. She is older than Alexander so her next step was sleeping at nap and bedtime without any diapers or pull-ups. We were/are very thrilled about this until the first accident…which was at 3 a.m. last night. At that time in the morning…keeping them in diapers till they go to college starts looking better and better!
Oh oh oh no! A lot of people keep telling me that being potty trained “just happens.” I hope “it happens” the soonest for Alexander! 🙂
I so don’t miss potty training! Although having 3 daughters, two of whom are teens, meaning we go through an awful lot of products and pms. That may be worse.
It’s funny, for the 5 that are potty trained, I always emphasized the poop part, and made sure to start there. I figured once they got that part down pat, the pee part would settle itself.
The first potty trained child was a hard battle. But every other seemed to fall into place when it was time. I think the biggest factor was that I let them decided “when it was time”, gave them a little stool to climb on the toilet, gave them a little gummy candy when the deed was done… The stress factor of me running after the child to ask a million times a day that dreaded question was wiped after I realized *I* was the one that was trained, not my daughter! {lol} So basically, instead of getting all stressed and freaked otu that my 3 year old wasn’t fully potty trained, I realized she/he just might not be ready for that leap. Then I told myself that the potty problem would feel like old news by the time they were 16. 😉
Good luck in potty land! It is an uphill road, but once travelled, so well worth it, right? 🙂
Oh, no fun with the poopy messes. But I bet in a week or two, it will just be something you and your husband laugh about while your son poops on the potty.
That part does take time. Not too long normally but it does. Zander has now been ‘training’ for a week (going to blog about that now lol) and is doing really well…I have caught him in time for many number 2’s but obviously not all of them. It’s okay though. I know he will get it soon