If you had of told me 10 years ago, I would actually be excited about a child’s bodily functions….I would have told you, you are crazy!!!
However, here I am today….bursting with pride over the fact that Myles has done his *business* in the potty for the 3 days in a row…..without any accidents!!! For our family this is more then a small victory, it’s a HUGE achievement.
Potty training did not come easy, in fact I think this may have been one of the biggest challenges we have faced as parents to date. For months and months we tried to encourage Myles to just sit on the potty…..of course…..each time we were met with a polite *No Thank you* from him.
One day in mid February I was picking Myles up from our day care providers and was shocked when she said, *Myles will be a minute, he’s on the potty*. I couldn’t believe it!!! I’m sure alot of it had to do with her daughter, who was potty training as well. I assume that watching her daughter provided Myles some inspiration.
The first few weeks were a nightmare, it was a hit and miss with alot of frustration. I’m not sure how many times I said to Gord, *he’s not ready* and I wanted to throw in the towel. My daycare provider encouraged me to keep going and not give up….her words proved to be key. Slowly we noticed Myles was *getting it*. It wasn’t long before arguments vanished and Myles was telling us when he needed to go. The only downfall was we used the *bribery* technique and once Myles finished on the potty, he usually said…..and what do I get???
Our first outing with Myles in just his underwear was meant to just be a quick trip. Four hours later Myles finally piped up and said he needed to pee. Awesome!!! He held it in and let us know!!
Last week he woke up dry for the very first time, this continued for about 3 nights when I finally thought…..what the heck???….let’s put on this underwear at bedtime. He continued to show great progress, so we bought two special treats (thanks to my friend Wendy (Bratmom) for the idea) that would hopefully eliminate the *what do I get questions*- A Bob the Builder DVD and a Little tykes Gas Pump. The DVD he would get for 3 days with no accidents and the Gas Pump after 5. He did get a small reward however, buy putting a sticker up on the *chart* we had made to count how many days he went with no accidents.
Today he got his Bob the Builder DVD…..and to be honest….I don’t think he has been this excited since Christmas morning.
So, long ramble short…….hang in there, don’t get flustered and even a small step is a victory. Ohhh and…..get used to talking about *kids business* when they are little!! But enjoy every minute of it…..it goes wayyyyy too fast!!!
April 3rd, 2008 at 7:32 pm
It’s so exciting when they finally get it! Liam was very similar to M, we’d ask, he’d say, “No thanks! He was so far advanced in everything else we were perplexed that the potty wasn’t a priority. We he finally came around, it was very smooth and stress free. Pushing it never worked for any of ours. Glad he’s coming around!