Potty Training?

Ah, if there is one aspect in which I can, without a doubt, admit to completely stinking at as a mother, it's potty training! I remember when Katie was 18 months old. I was very excited at the thought of potty training her, so I went to Target by MOG and bought her a royal potty! No joke--it played royal music when we "flushed" it. My enthusiasm must not have been contagious, though, as Katie refused to go potty. Soon, her third birthday came and went, and she was still in diapers. By that point, Aidan was 6 months old and I was so done with having two in diapers at once. I asked my pediatrician, and she suggested not giving Katie an option and forcing her to wear underwear. Katie also went on Miralax, which was a script at that time. We had two birthday parties to attend just after beginning the Miralax, so I was smart and dressed Katie in a pull-up, just to be on the safe side. The first party went smoothly, with no accidents. Once we got to the second party, the unforgettable happened--the Miralax not only worked, but worked it's way down Katie's entire lower body! The pull-up was no match for it. Poor Katie had to get a bath at a birthday party, and even borrow clothes since hers got destroyed and I didn't think to pack any others since she was in a pull-up. Lesson learned! However, the following week, she was completely potty trained during the day, with no accidents.

Aidan was a bit different. He's more stubborn than Katie, and even though he hated being wet in underwear, he would simply not give in and use the toilet. Finally, last summer, several months after his third birthday, he became potty trained during the day. Except that he isn't. Getting him to have a BM in the potty has been an even worse nightmare than Katie's Miralax incident. Poor Aidan was holding his BM to the point that we went to the pediatrician in Jan. and had an x-ray. Aidan had an impacted stool, but our pediatrician believed it was best to let him suffer and refused to help him. Needless to say, this was NOT ok with Chris and me, and was one of the reasons we changed pediatricians this past winter. We ended up at CHOA Immediate Care, where the doctor and nurse were so kind to Aidan that his misery ended and he was awarded a new teddy bear by the dr., a bear he named Hero. A week later, on his 4th birthday, Aidan ended up in the ER because Chris and I thought his appendix had ruptured, only to discover that he was impacted again. The screams from Aidan were unreal, and he could not stand up or walk. I felt the stool in the right side of his abdomen, and that's why we believed his appendix was about to rupture. After that fiasco, he has relax quite a bit with his BMs. Sure, we're not there yet--there are many mornings he wakes up to a BM in his pull-up, but I will take that ANY day over those hospital trips. Our new doctor has encouraged us to simply reward his BMs in the potty, and not punish over having them in his pull-up. It's a process, but slowly he's gaining confidence.

One can only imagine how excited I must be at the prospect of potty training another child. After all, I've had nothing but pleasant, easy experiences thus far. Therefore, I shocked myself by deciding to go ahead and try to potty train Noah. We tried for the first time today. It seemed to go pretty well at first, but by this evening, he had two accidents. At least he was excited to sit on the potty, and continued to sit on it throughout the day. I have no idea how long I will decide to continue potty training him, or if I will decide to wait until winter, but it seemed like a good time. He's interested in it, so I figured it couldn't hurt. If only we could get a success....maybe then I wouldn't dread potty training so much!