My kiddo, Rowdy, will turn 3 in June. I am due with our second kiddo, a baby girl, in May. So, being the responsible, prepared, planner that I am, I decided that we could go ahead and give potty training a go a little earlier than I had originally imagined. I had always figured Rowdy wouldn’t potty train until he was almost 3 years old. That’s just the vibe I got off of him, plus I have heard from other parents that that’s the typical timing for many boys. But with the upcoming birth of our baby girl happening at, most likely, the exact time in which Rowdy would have been potty training, my husband and I decided we could try it out for a weekend a few months early. I amazingly had a 3-day weekend with no major obligations. This was the perfect time to try potty training, wear undies, go bottomless and do whatever else we needed to do to get the job done. So, what happened, you ask? A lot. The only time we put a diaper or pull-up on Rowdy was during nap time and bed time. The rest of the time he wore underwear or even nothing on bottom at all. I spent almost my entire weekend asking him if he needed to potty, taking him to the potty, sitting with him by the potty, giving him M&Ms, Skittles and stickers for even sitting on the potty at all, reading him an Elmo potty book and even showing him fun videos on the phone to keep him sitting on the potty when I could tell that he was about to go. Sure, he peed in the potty a couple of times each day. But I’m pretty sure that’s only because he simply couldn’t hold it any longer. He certainly didn’t “try” to potty. He treated his underwear as if they were diapers. There were accidents on the floor. We saw it all. Sometimes he would be cooperative, sometimes he would cry. Like I said, a lot happened. We had a good variety of emotions, responses and behavior. So, what’s the final outcome? We’re going to chill and not worry about using the potty for a while. I certainly don’t want to traumatize the poor child and make him hate the potty. And I think if we push it any further, that’s exactly what will happen. Potty training can obviously be very hard work. Some children probably make it easier on their parents than others. Some do it “early”, some do it “late”. But if there’s one thing I have definitely learned about parenting thus far, it’s that forcing things and trying to do things “early” (whatever that may mean for each child), pretty much doesn’t work.
So our little family can relax for a bit and hold onto the diapers a little longer. Well, a lot longer if you include baby girl, but you know what I mean. The lessons I’ve learned from many things throughout Rowdy’s life thus far remind me that he probably won’t enter his senior year of high school drinking from a bottle, sucking his thumb and wearing a diaper, so it’s all good.
To be continued…
Kind Kiddo 