Potty Progress

Last week, this whole potty training thing came to a head. For the past month or so David has taken most of the responsibility for it, since I was up to my ears with Kate, the house, and Ethan's attitude regarding the potty. But then David decided he was done with the whole training, too. It was getting the best of both him and Ethan, and we needed to re-evaluate.



So, we switched. I took Ethan, David took Kate. It was now my turn to deal with the madness again! But at least it would be on my own terms :)


We decided to go back to just underwear (rather than the pull-ups) and let Ethan learn the hard way. No more reminding him, no more nagging him. So, we covered up the furniture as best we could, got the carpet cleaning spray to the ready, and let Ethan "go". Rather than going bare-bottomed (as some recommend), we decided we cared too much about our personal belongings! We figured his underwear and clothing might catch most of the mess.


After two accidents, something clicked. We were at the playground when it happened. Ethan had wet himself and we took him to the porta John to change him (not fun). When we got home there was definitely a different feeling in the air.


"Mommy, are you okay?" Ethan said.
"No, Ethan," I replied. "I'm sad."
"Mommy, you upset?" he pushed.
"No, sweetie. I'm just sad."


And I was sad. While none of the kids cared (they probably didn't notice), the image of Ethan being taken to the bathroom, huge wet stain and all, kinda burned me. I had never felt public humiliation before.


That night before bed, as is our custom, I asked Ethan to use the potty. He obediently went, no protests, no tears. I realized that while fruit snacks and treats are a good start to positive motivation, nothing motivates Ethan more like wanting mommy and daddy to be happy. He just wants us to love him and be happy with him.


This changed our approach entirely.

Here we are a week later. Ethan is still in underwear and hasn't had any accidents! He still hasn't gone on his own (meaning of his own volition), but he goes everytime we ask him with very few protests. This is a HUGE breakthrough for us. Of course he wears a pull-up at bedtime and naptime, but we've made huge headway in that area too! This morning he woke up dry. I asked him to use the potty (again, no protests!), and he went. In all 3 years and 4 months of his life he has woken up wet and/or dirty, so this is quite the miracle.


It's funny. Recently, David told me if God could answer one prayer, and it was between our old house selling and Ethan being potty trained, he would take the latter. Oye! I guess we'll be making double house payments for a while...