A change in duties

Sam has been "potty training" for what seems like forever.

Just shy of his 2nd birthday he would poop on the potty, but not pee. Then we somehow lost all interest... and periodically I would test his interest ... we would try again, sometimes for a few hours, other times all day, until he'd lose interest and we would have accident, after accident, after accident.

Back in January, we had a fairly successful weekend of underpants, going potty every 45 minutes, but then Sunday and church happened, and by the end of nursery we’d had an accident, he lost interest and was back to pull-ups and diapers.

With boys (and girls too, I guess), I've always heard, “don't push them, when they're ready, they're ready.” And that was what I was trying to do with Sam. In the mornings, I'd ask, “Do you want to wear big boy underpants, a Spiderman pull-up, or diaper today,” and let him pick. Making it clear that if he chose one of the first two, he'd have to sit on the potty when Mommy said it was time to. Again, we'd have some successes, and lots of messy failures. And unless he was naked or in Sacrament meeting, he'd NEVER tell us he needed to go potty, we were always the ones telling him when it was time to go.

Finally last Monday, May 1st, I decided it was time to simply put him in big boy underpants and see what would happen. Preparing myself for weeks of accidents, vowing to be consistent and not give up, no matter what, we started.

Sam did pretty well all week, averaging only 2 accidents a day. I count myself lucky we only had one public accident (we had a week full of errands, etc. getting ready for Rebecca's 6th birthday and all girl party!). It happened at preschool and was only pee - a lot of pee, but only pee - that I can deal with in public. Thankfully, I had a change of pants and underpants in the car and had just purchased wipes at the store!

I think Sam's finally starting to figure out when his body needs to go potty. We've been accident free since Saturday afternoon! AND he's been waking up dry! Tonight GR is experimenting by putting Sam to bed with big boy underpants on, not a pull-up. We'll see what happens in the morning.

I'm comfortable taking Sam anywhere in underpants, but not confident. I still drive around town with a couple pairs of underpants, a pair of jeans, some wipes and a pull-up - in the front seat of the car! I'm not sure we'd be accident free if I didn't remind him every couple of hours to go potty. But today - for the first time in underpants - Sam said, "Need to go potty!" So off we rushed to the bathroom where Rebecca was just finishing, poor thing had to wipe standing up so her brother could go, such a good sport!

So it looks like for the first time in 6 years, I will have a short three month break from changing dirty diapers!