One
of the true joys of parenting is getting to watch a person experience
things in life for the first time. When those things are ice cream or
jumping in puddles, it’s an amazing feeling. But with this great power
comes great responsibility - like, you have to actually teach your child
to do things that, as an adult, it’s very easy to take for granted –
such as eating with a fork or using a toilet.
As with many things in life, I postponed dealing with potty training until I started to feel the societal shame. As her younger cousin declared bowel control victory and the mother of a one-year old asked me what method I was using, I thought maybe it was time I gave this more of an effort than just buying a small potty and hoping she’d figure it out eventually.
Many moms I know sing the praises of the 3-day method. But the idea of letting my kid go commando and locking myself in the house for three days while following her around with a roll of paper towels just didn’t sound all that appealing. I haven’t had to clean up messes like that since my now 11 year-old dog was a puppy and I didn’t really want to start again. Plus, what do you do about your furniture? But even her daycare teacher seemed to think it was worth a shot, so we did a modified version.
FRIDAY NIGHT
I bought new underwear. The smallest Target had were two sizes too big. But I figured the toddler version of granny panties is better than nothing. They were pink, so she was interested. I also cut up a bunch of garbage bags and covered the couch. So basically the same method of furniture protection I used with my dog way back when.
SATURDAY
My husband was working all weekend so the plan was for me to stay home with our toddler and tackle this seemingly impossible task. Of course, that went out the window immediately as one thing after another kept me out of the house and our daughter in pull-ups.
SUNDAY
With an afternoon birthday party cutting into training time, I decided to try and make the most of the morning. Out came the underwear – a whole stack piled on the coffee table like napkins. I wasn’t wrong in thinking we’d go through them as quickly as napkins at a BBQ serving ribs. Before noon we’d gone through at least 4 pairs, including the moment my daughter came hobbling out of her bedroom carrying a load of poop in saggy granny panties. There was no way I was attempting this outside of the house, especially not at a trampoline themed birthday party, so we switched to pull-ups for the rest of the day.
MONDAY
It’s a three-day weekend and the last day of my self-imposed three-day challenge. I was fully prepared to lie to her teacher if I needed to tomorrow and tell her we were successful so I could cowardly pass her the baton. But then the most amazing thing happened. An hour had passed since I’d put her in underwear and I realized that unless I wanted to continue the puddle mopping from yesterday I needed to get her on a potty ASAP. So I did the only thing I could think of and bribed her with cookies. She immediately pulled her underwear down, sat on the potty and took a Tom Hanks in A League of Their Own level pee – then asked for her cookie. Half an hour later we repeated this scenario (half a cookie this time).
While she switched back to pull-ups after that, I will take this small victory. And if I am being really honest, I’m surprised to find the joy of watching this tiny person pee in her tiny plastic toilet is kind of right up there with puddle jumping.
As with many things in life, I postponed dealing with potty training until I started to feel the societal shame. As her younger cousin declared bowel control victory and the mother of a one-year old asked me what method I was using, I thought maybe it was time I gave this more of an effort than just buying a small potty and hoping she’d figure it out eventually.
Many moms I know sing the praises of the 3-day method. But the idea of letting my kid go commando and locking myself in the house for three days while following her around with a roll of paper towels just didn’t sound all that appealing. I haven’t had to clean up messes like that since my now 11 year-old dog was a puppy and I didn’t really want to start again. Plus, what do you do about your furniture? But even her daycare teacher seemed to think it was worth a shot, so we did a modified version.
FRIDAY NIGHT
I bought new underwear. The smallest Target had were two sizes too big. But I figured the toddler version of granny panties is better than nothing. They were pink, so she was interested. I also cut up a bunch of garbage bags and covered the couch. So basically the same method of furniture protection I used with my dog way back when.
SATURDAY
My husband was working all weekend so the plan was for me to stay home with our toddler and tackle this seemingly impossible task. Of course, that went out the window immediately as one thing after another kept me out of the house and our daughter in pull-ups.
SUNDAY
With an afternoon birthday party cutting into training time, I decided to try and make the most of the morning. Out came the underwear – a whole stack piled on the coffee table like napkins. I wasn’t wrong in thinking we’d go through them as quickly as napkins at a BBQ serving ribs. Before noon we’d gone through at least 4 pairs, including the moment my daughter came hobbling out of her bedroom carrying a load of poop in saggy granny panties. There was no way I was attempting this outside of the house, especially not at a trampoline themed birthday party, so we switched to pull-ups for the rest of the day.
MONDAY
It’s a three-day weekend and the last day of my self-imposed three-day challenge. I was fully prepared to lie to her teacher if I needed to tomorrow and tell her we were successful so I could cowardly pass her the baton. But then the most amazing thing happened. An hour had passed since I’d put her in underwear and I realized that unless I wanted to continue the puddle mopping from yesterday I needed to get her on a potty ASAP. So I did the only thing I could think of and bribed her with cookies. She immediately pulled her underwear down, sat on the potty and took a Tom Hanks in A League of Their Own level pee – then asked for her cookie. Half an hour later we repeated this scenario (half a cookie this time).
While she switched back to pull-ups after that, I will take this small victory. And if I am being really honest, I’m surprised to find the joy of watching this tiny person pee in her tiny plastic toilet is kind of right up there with puddle jumping.
No comments:
Post a Comment