Shhh. Can you hear that? Yep, you got it. It’s the angels singing, rejoicing a true miracle here on Earth. And if you listen real closely you’ll hear a whimsical tinkling, porcelain music to my soul. The sound of my son not peeing his pants.
Hallelujah!
I feel like this moment has been a long time coming. Potty-training is certainly not for the faint of heart. And, sure, we’ve done this before with Avery (now a 7 year-old) but I can attest that it was a much easier process.
“Avery, stop peeing in your diaper.”
“Okay, mommy.” End of story.
But Jack, oh Jack, has been an entirely different storyline.
“Jack, stop peeing in your diaper.”
“What diaper?”
“The one you’re wearing…and peeing in.”
“I not.”
“Yes, you are.”
“Nope.”
“Jack…”
“Mommy, I pooped. Change my diaper.”
We’ve endured countless moments of helplessness watching these encounters, just like the one described above, occur.
And Jack has been one stubborn little muchacho. You might remember, if you’ve been reading my blog for awhile (in which case, thank you) we’ve had some very specific trials and tribulations around building this dude a more familiar relationship with the ‘john’. Quite plainly, he’s been a giant pain in the rear.
Peeing in the toilet was a whiz (pun fully intended). Jack discovered quickly that he quite enjoyed letting himself hanging out ‘n about freely. But, as I explained in this post the other part of the training was not so successful. To be frank, the kid flat refused to poop in the toilet. And I was exhausted trying.
So, for the sake of what little sanity hasn’t yet been sapped from my intellect, I stopped for a little while. Until this happened. Oh, but I was something mad. The sheer cheekiness of this kid motivated me to hit the training with an entirely new strategy. Force him. Jack spent so much time sitting on that pot his buns cheeks took on a semi-permanent oval indentation.
And, with a little resilience, we hit payload (hehehe…load). It finally worked! Which prompted me to post this. And man was I in heaven. Somehow I had convinced myself that Jack’s sudden success was a giant indicator of our future in blissful toilet-directed expelling of bodily fluids and other matter.
I was wrong. Which prompted me to post this. And man, was I no longer in heaven. Like a slap in the face, I was reminded how so much of life is out of my control. Bummer. (It would be a whole lot easier if I had control over everything that happened in this house…easier and more fun. Well, at least more clean. And sanitary.)
But today, folks, I m back with yet another potty-training post. This time, though, my news is optimistic yet realistic. The kid is done. He’s toilet trained. Officially. Jack’s been accident-free for a good two weeks and has apparently discovered the benefits of toilet freedom.
Thank the Lord.
I’m hoping that this will not ultimately be a post in vain. I’m hoping that Jack will continue with this bout of independence (well, as independent as being wiped on a daily basis could be) but we are all estatic that he seems to be moving (bowel moving, that is) in the right direction. I fully assume and expect that he will have setbacks. He may even purposely decide he prefers the diaper to the commode (at which point I’ll explain to him that he’s wrong.) But, we’re on our way.
And the landfill couldn’t be happier.
(End note – in the interest of full disclosure, as I am finishing up this post, Jack has peed his pants. Lovely. But, in the infamous words of Scarlett O’Hara, “After all…tomorrow is another day.” Let’s just hope it’s not a wet one.)
Mindy
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Brandy
Congrats! I know that is a load outta your pants, ahem I mean a load off of your shoulders. I was lucky with my nephew, he toliet trained easily. It was the finger in the nose all the freakin time that drove me crazy. I finally told him I was going to drop him off at the boogerheadnosepickinjail. That did the trick, uh probably the wrong thing to tell a 4 year old.
Ha! Boys are so hard, ain’t they? We deserve medals, we moms.
Hooray! That is a major triumph – as I well know. I am delighted for you.
Oh, the up and dumps, oops I meant downs, of potty training…just remember you can retell these stories to all his friends and girlfriends when he is a teenager and to his kids someday…oh the bliss of sweet revenge!
The best feeling in the world is the day you walk past the diaper aisle at the store and know you will never, ever have to walk down it again. It will happen. Hang in there!
I feel for ya. Hopefully this will soon be over.
Did you know that Margaret Meade originally planned to call her lead character Pansy O’Hara? I just can’t help but think you wouldn’t be quoting Pansy about hope for a better tomorrow. (sorry, had to put my name thing in). OK. Names aside, congrats on a mostly successful two weeks.
Yay Mindy!! Congrats! I’m glad you finally squeezed this one out.
Diaper freedom is the best feeling in the world!