“Choo Choo!!!!” I say as excitedly as I can possibly force myself to whilst moving my arms around my sides like that straight thing that goes across old train wheels to make them go all at the same time. “It’s potty train time.”
“I DON’T WANT TO!” Daniel yelled.
I try numerous tactics to make going potty (and getting to the potty) fun: potty train, bug potty (he really likes bugs), bribery, etc. but none of them work. Instead, Daniel prefers to wear no underpants or nappy and then pees on the floor. Or the bed, or lounge, wherever he is at the time, really.
Finally I am able to coax him into wearing undies after I buy a pack of way overly priced Thomas the Tank Engine underwear. They do nothing to get him to sit on the potty though. He still pees where he stands and then walks around with wet undies without a care in the world.
I can see that he knows exactly when he needs to pee. He stood in the bath one day, looked at his penis, and then watched as he soiled the bathwater. After that, I notice the he often stops and looks at his crotch region, even though it is now covered in Thomas underpants, before peeing all over the floor quickly followed by walking away as if nothing happened. He is just being stubborn and won’t sit on the potty.
Time is running out, so I lay down my nice-y nice-y tactics and go for something I know he will respond to: threats and bribery.
“Potty time,” I tell him cheerfully.
“NO, I DON’T WANT TO, ” he yells stubbornly.
“Well, you can either sit on the potty, or go in time out, your choice.”
He stands there for a couple seconds deciding his best course of action, before happily stating that he’ll sit on the the potty like it was his idea in the first place. He runs to the bathroom with a smile on his face and sits on his little potty with glee. Why didn’t I think of this before?
He sits there while I read him an entire Thomas book, but nothing happens. We repeat the process every hour. I know that as soon as he pees in the potty once, he will get it, so I wait patiently, reading the same 10 or so Thomas books over and over again for days. He’s finally happy about sitting on the potty, and I’m happy because that is progress.
One day, Daniel runs to the bathroom, opens the door by himself, and then stays in there for a while. At first, I think he’s going potty, but he comes out saying nothing, so I say nothing too. He must have been playing with his bath toys.
“Come on buddy, time to sit on the potty.” I tell him a few minutes later. We get in the bathroom and I open the lid on his little potty. “There’s pee in there!” I exclaim. “You did a pee in there all by yourself!” That’s when I notice that his dark blue undies are wet at the front. The wet patch blends in so well with the dry that it’s hardly noticeable.
“Yeah, I did.” He said, as if it were nothing.
So what that he forgot to pull his undies down, he actually peed on the potty!
I make a big fuss and give him a lollipop which he is delighted about. Plus, I’m right, it only takes one pee in the potty and from then on, he consistently pees in there.
It’s so nice not having to clean pee off everything all day.
Poo is another story. He has no problems pooping in his undies and then walking around in it as if it’s not sticking to his butt and smelling disgusting.
He still likes running around with no undies on sometimes, which sometimes equates to pooping on the floor. Usually he waits until we go out to poop because he is wearing a nappy. It’s kind of a running joke with the creche ladies at church. Every time he is in there he poops. They only have to come out and look at me and I know they want me to come change his nappy.
We only have 18 days left. 18 days to somehow get Daniel to poop in the potty. 18 more days, other wise he can’t go in the kids club on the cruise the kids and I are going on with a pregnant Aunty Jess. 18 more days or he’ll either have to tag along with Jess and I all the time on the boat (which means Hannah probably would too), or I’ll have to pay for a baby sitter, which wouldn’t be nearly as fun as kids club. They won’t be in kids club all day everyday, just for a few hours each day. It’s fun for them, they love stuff like that, plus Jess and I can relax without worrying about kids falling overboard, in the pool, or running off with strangers.
18 days. Fingers are crossed. Bribes are being upped.
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Copyright 2014 Sheri Thomson
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