We have begun potty training. I decided that with two plus weeks of
spring break for my son that now is as good of a time as any to start.
Our pediatrician told us at one point (long ago) that it may take up to a
year to potty train my son. I am taking our pediatrician at her
word. This is going to take a loooong time.
With my
daughter we could at least get her to tell us when she had to go to the
bathroom. My son is not at that stage yet. In fact, he does not even
bother to tell me when he has already gone and is sitting in a wet dirty
underwear! And it get's worse when I have to take that wet dirty
underwear off. Needless to say, I have learned to strip him down in the
bathtub because he invariably gets the dirty part of his underwear on
his legs and feet and sometimes his hands. Yuck!
I know
we have to make it a habit and so I am trying my best to do so.
Unfortunately my son is doing his best to thwart me at every turn.
First by running away, giggling when I tell him it's potty time (and
yes, I am giving him prizes for just sitting on the potty for 10-30
seconds) and when that does not work by standing stiff and saying in a
loud voice "NO POTTY" followed by a sinister "HA! HA! HA!"
It
has been a little over two weeks so far and now my son has added the
words "NO UNDERWEAR" to his vocabulary. Well, at least he is learning
there is a difference between underwear and a diaper or pull ups - if
only in theory and not in practice.
My son is back in school and so I am having to adjust our potty training schedule accordingly.
My goal is still to have him in underwear for at least a couple of hours
every day and during that time I am putting him on the potty every half
hour. Of course, my son always manages to go to the bathroom in his
underwear, even if I am checking his underwear ever 5-10 minutes. I,
however, have hope as he is becoming a little less resistant to sitting
on the potty. He even told me one time that he had to go sit on the
potty. Of course he told me this after he had already gone in his pants
. . . but I'll take any tiny forward step as a sign to keep going on
with this process!
