I think that last week was one of the most stressful and horrendous weeks I've had in a long time. It seemed as if every aspect of my life was off kilter in some way, and the only thing constant was my kids. Every single day presented a new challenge, and the burden was starting to make my feet ache. I was neither sad or depressed, just tired and overwhelmed.
About halfway into my week we had some family staying over for a couple of days. During that time, my little Soren decided it was time he learn how to "potty in the potty chair!" I couldn't believe it. I wish I could accurately explain my state of mind last week so that you could fully comprehend what I was feeling the moment he said "mommy, I have to go potty!" Instead, I'll just tell you a bit about Soren's overall potty training experience...
I suppose it was early spring when Soren first expressed some interest in learning how to be a big boy (
My "Sweet Guy" ). He hated a wet diaper, but didn't know how to actually go in the potty. I think he managed to do it one time. After that, the "I hate my wet diaper" phase fizzled. Life got busy with summer and I decided not to pursue training him. All of the advice I got from other mom's seemed to be..."he'll let you know when he's ready, so don't worry about it." So, I didn't.
Summer was in full swing and Soren started wetting through his diapers every night. It was so incredibly frustrating having to wash sheets every single day. I doubled up on diapers and that seemed to work about half the time. After a few weeks of that I was still fed up, so I began covering his diaper with Synnove's plastic training pants...they were pink. For some reason, they don't sell white plastic training pants anymore...the choice is either pink or blue. Soren didn't seem to mind, and the idea seemed to work. Eventually, I bought a couple more pairs and he has worn them every night since. And after our camping trip with the Thompson's, they were deemed "fancy pants." Ha ha =)
By late summer I was getting tired of buying diapers and decided I would do some training. I chose a day or two when we had nothing going on and confined him to the kitchen (the only non-carpeted section of the house). I know, it sounds kinda mean, but it wasn't all that bad. I made sure to provide him with lots of toys and left the TV off so that he wouldn't get sad for not being able to watch with Synnove. He really was a good boy and hardly complained. I gave him salty snacks and lots of juice and put his little potty in the kitchen with him. I tried very hard not to let my anger get the best of me after he peed on the floor for the 8th time...2 days in a row. I think he may have made it to the potty one time...maybe 2??
After that, I decided to just give up for a while. Obviously, he wasn't ready. I was disappointed because he was turning 3 in just a couple of months, and I felt he should be trained by that time. I didn't dwell on it though.
A couple of weeks before his 3rd birthday I thought I'd give it another go. This time, I made up a sticker chart for him and we tackled the same drill. Again, there was more pee on the floor than in the potty. However, by mid-day, he was starting to get it! He made it to the potty about half the time and I thought for sure we were going to have complete success by the end of the next day. He was successful enough for me to start putting pull-ups on him and allowing him to go to other areas of the house. Pull-ups are expensive (even the generic brands) and I didn't want to have to buy more, so I used them sparingly. Unfortunately, only a few minutes after I put on his first Pull-up, he peed his pants. 3 Pull-ups within a 1-2 hour period and I was done. He went back to the kitchen with training underwear.
After that, he wore Pull-ups over the span of a couple of days and had few successes, so I just switched him back to diapers and gave up. I knew that he was sincerely trying, but he just couldn't quite figure it out. Oh, and I forgot to mention, by this time he was completely "poop-trained." So,
that was nice!
A month or so later it turned into last week. He announced he had to go potty and he's only had about 5 or 6 accidents since (not including night time and nap time)! He's even gone potty at Costco and the church nursery! He's been wearing a diaper for the last week, until today when I finally put some Pull-ups on him. He peed on the floor this morning while I was trying to get his diaper off for him to potty after he got up...but oh well. He's really really trying, and I'm soooo proud of him! His sticker chart should be full by the end of this week, then maybe we'll be able to put him in his fancy Thomas the Tank Engine undies!
To view some of the photos from the session, click HERE! James is the most awesome and reasonable gig in town. He's done senior pictures for at least 4 of my cousins, and he did my sister's wedding. Check out his website at www.alderbrookimaging.net
