Potty Training - Take One

Before I got the kids out of bed yesterday, I got everything ready to go. Taking the advice from several sources, I was armed with a plan.

Marcus got up and went pee pee on the potty like he does every morning. The plan was that he would get an M&M every time he successfully used the potty. I threw his diaper in the trash and told him that we were done with those things! I asked him if he was ready and he said, "Okay."

After we got Will out of bed we headed to breakfast with nothing between Marcus's buns and his chair but his pj's. I put a towel down for him to sit on in case of an accident. When breakfast was over, his chair was still dry.

We got dressed, I put nothing on Marcus but a sweatshirt. He insisted that he wear socks and his slippers which just made him look even more funny.


I put Marcus's potty in the family room and we were ready to roll. Everything was going great... mostly. Outwardly, you might think that things couldn't be going better. Between the hours of 7:30 and 12:30, he only had two little accidents! However, I have to wonder how in the world he even managed to have two accidents. The kid was literally peeing on the potty (and gulping down M&Ms) approximately every 2-5 minutes. He was great at telling me he had to go potty, lifting the lid to his potty, sitting, and peeing. The bad part of it was that then I had to get his hands washed (and Will wanted his hands washed too). Then I had to give him an M&M (and give Will a Cheerio), empty and clean out the potty down the hall, return the potty, and get my own hands washed. I honestly wasn't sure I was going to be able to get lunch made because it was just constant attention on my part giving out rewards and resetting things for his business. Really, no human being should be able to keep the waterworks flowing for that long! (Greg told me I was practicing communist parenting. One kid would use the potty and both kids got a reward.)


I started to wonder if maybe he just couldn't hold it, maybe his little bladder just isn't ready. Emotionally he is ready, he gets it, he wants to do it. I just wasn't sure he was physically ready. I didn't know if I was physically ready to keep doing it! He did sit all through breakfast, snack, and lunch and didn't have an accident so I know he can hold it. Maybe he just isn't emptying his bladder fully. Who knows.

I put a pull-up on him for nap. He went to sleep and I collapsed on the couch for a break.

I thought I was ready to go for the afternoon after nap. The pull-up came off and snack was served. The household remained dry. Soon after snack the potty marathon continued. My endurance was faultering. I asked Marcus if he wanted to try out his big boy underwear since he was doing such a great job. He agreed at first. As I was sliding them on I told him that he had to make sure he put all his pee pee and poopy in the potty because we didn't want to get it on his new big boy underwear. His underwear were up to his knees at this point and he decided, "Off!" That was the end of that. Back to naked Marcus.

Will decided to sit on my lap so I could read him a book and I was glad that for the first time all day I could take a chance to be a parent to my youngest child. Despite the fact that Marcus had my attention the entire day, he was not the least bit pleased that I was taking a minute to read to his brother. The solution to this anger was to throw a book at my face. So I yelled. This scared the pee out of him for accident number three. Even though I was exhausted and just plain tired of using all my attention on one child, I felt like I was still in the game. A few minutes later, after we all had recovered, Marcus crouched down to get something and dribbled a bit. Really, it wasn't bad at all, just a dime-sized mark on my already dirty carpet. Somehow though, it was what finally made me throw in the towel. I asked Marcus if he wanted a diaper on. He said no. I waited... about 30 seconds. Then I went to get a diaper and just happened to put it in plain sight. Marcus spotted it and started cheering, "DIAPER!!" Then he lay on the floor and waited for application. I couldn't get that thing on fast enough.

Marcus still asked to go to the potty several times last night and I took him some of those times. I want him to think that he can go to the potty when he has to, but at the same time, my sanity must remain in tact.

Today I went for plan B, a plan that was made up on the spot. This is called the slow motion potty training where I don't pay any attention to what anyone has told me about potty training. Everyone I have talked to has told me not to use the pull-ups because they give kids a sense of security. Marcus is wearing a pull-up today. I am allowing him to go to the potty every half hour or so. He is still asking me to go, about every 15 minutes. Like the mean mom that I am, I tell him that he is going to have to hold it for a few more minutes. I haven't noticed much wetness in the pull-up so he must be doing a pretty good job! He isn't nearly as hopped up on M&Ms today which is an added bonus.