Success

I hate potty-training. No, seriously, I hate it. I've had nothing but negative experiences with it. Between Katie's runs at a birthday party to Aidan's ER visit on his fourth birthday for an impacted stool, I have decided that I won't potty-train anymore. Nope, Noah can just stay in diapers until he decides it's time, and if I have any more children, they can teach themselves. Oh, wait, what was that? Noah is ready? How can I be sure? How can I know that I won't face another miserable potty-training experience? Hmmm...I guess Noah has decided to train himself! I wasn't really planning on having the kids have baths tonight, but between Aidan's hair gel and Noah's love of nature, I really had no choice. Bathtime has become a bit of a battlefield lately, because Noah never wants to get dressed. His communication is getting so much better that he no longer just "goes with the flow". Nope, now he says a firm "no" if he doesn't want to do something, the silly boy. He was running around in Aidan's Thomas the Tank Engine towel, "peep-peep"-ing, and all of a sudden, he squatted down on my bathroom floor and let out just a couple drops of pee. I know he knew what he was doing, because he stopped. I quickly picked him up and put him on our toilet, and encouraged him to have some success. Low and behold, less than a minute later, success! I kept cheering him on, and he emptied his bladder right then and there. Even funnier, he got up, flushed the toilet, and washed his hands, grinning proudly! He was so proud that, 5 minutes later, he wanted to sit on the toilet again, but of course, he had already emptied his bladder, so that time was unsuccessful. So, it appears that my son has taken matters into his own hands and has decided it's time to use the potty! With any luck, he might be daytime trained within a week!

The Potty Wars

Aidan began potty training last summer. We had to work with him diligently to get him to pee in the potty. He became comfortable enough to use his potty seat to pee, but refused to poop. This past winter, we ended up in the hospital because he became so constipated and we thought he was having an appendix attack. This spring, he became comfortable enough to stand when he pees, and, for the most part, he will use any toilet to take care of business, but he is still not potty trained overnight, so he still refuses to poop in the potty. Usually, he will go a week between poops, and by then, he's hurting a lot.

As we packed for Myrtle Beach a little over a week ago, I completely forgot to pack his potty seat for poops. Once we got to the beach house, I wasn't overly concerned because he rarely poops in the potty anyway, and I knew I had plenty of pull-ups for overnight use. We were at the beach on Friday when Aidan began dancing around.

"Aidan, do you need to poop?" I asked him.

"Yes, Mommy. Will you take me back to the beach house?"

"Yes, Aidan, but I expect you to actually poop if we walk all the way back to the house. If you do, I will give you some Coke as a reward."

Our pediatrician has recommend rewarding his pooping in the potty, and usually, at home, I will reward him with something non-food related, but at the beach, my resources were limited. He loves Coke, but it's not something he gets daily. I figured that might motivate him to take care of business. The beach house is enough of a walk from the part of the beach where we play that I did not want to walk all the way back only for him to refuse to potty.

Aidan happily walked back to the house. It was hot and sunny on Friday, and when we got to the house, he went to our bathroom. He was timid about not having a potty seat, but I promised to hold him so that he wouldn't fall in. As I helped him, he quickly took care of business. I was so proud of him!

"Mommy, can I have my Coke now?"

"Of course, Aidan. I am so proud of you!"

As we made our way back to the beach, Aidan boasted to everyone about pooping in the potty. He was in a fantastic mood from that point on.

We began driving home on Saturday, and, once again, Aidan said he needed to poop, but also said it wasn't urgent. When we got back to Grayson, he pooped in the potty again! We were impressed. However, the biggest surprise was yesterday--when he got up yesterday morning, he pooped in the potty for a third day in a row, and his pull-up was clean! Yes! Finally!! Maybe our potty war is finally coming to a close! For some reason, pooping in the potty at Myrtle Beach seemed to erase his fear of pooping in the potty. And for that, I am thrilled beyond words. Maybe he won't be constipated anymore. The past two days, he pooped without being bribed. Instead, he was simply proud of his accomplishment!

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!