Potty time

By Leslie

Potty training. Those two seemingly innocuous words strike utter fear in my heart. I get cold and hot flashes just thinking about pint-sized potties, Pull-Ups and nighttime sheet changing. I walk quickly past the potty training books at the bookstore, fearful one might come to life and leap out at me screaming, "Don't you know it's time to potty train your child??!! You only have a small window of opportunity to get this right! Snap to it, Woman!"

Now that we've passed the first set of major milestones (crawling, walking, talking and tantrums) with our just-turned-two son, we are supposedly ready for the next one, potty training. The only problem is that I am not ready. I am not sure I'll ever be ready. See, diapers are fabulous to me. Sure, they are a little expensive, especially when your child's cute little Buddha belly is so large that only the most expensive premium brand fits him. And sure, it would be nice if James could just "take care of business" on his own. But I don't care. I'll forgo a latte at Starbucks every day for the convenience that diapers afford me, at least for now.

Right now, I slap a diaper on James each morning and off we go. We can go to the mall, the movies, the park, no hassles whatsoever. If he has to go, he goes. No frantically running around trying to find a restroom in time. If he does need a change, it's a quick trip to a bathroom or even to the back of our car for a new diaper. What's not to love about that? And with baby number two on the way, juggling both of them while trying to get to the restroom in time just ain't this mama's idea of fun!

I dread the whole process of potty training and the conflicting methods I've learned about –- taking him to the potty every 30 minutes, giving reward stickers, letting him walk around naked all day, aiming for Cheerios in the toilet. Ugh. You don't suppose they make diapers for 6th graders, do you? Hmmmm…

Besides, I've already got enough pee on my hands (and floor!) with an incontinent cat and a dog who doesn't always wake us when she needs to go out at night. How much more can a gal handle?

So does anyone know of a nice "potty training camp" where I can send my son for a few weeks?

Leslie lives in northern Virginia with her husband and 2-year-old son.

Comments

[Missie]

ROF! Too funny! I remember those days well with my son, even though I've tried to repress the memory. We tried too early with him, and it took forever. And I never would have tried it if I was pregnant with another baby at the time. I applaud you for even thinking about it!

I would wait until after you've had your baby, because he may revert to diapers for attention after you have it anyway. After he's accepted the baby and realizes it won't go away, maybe he will be interested in doing it then. Who knows what goes on in the mind of a child? But my pediatrician assured me, "No kid goes into kindergarten in diapers, so until he's in danger of that, don't worry about it." Words to live by!

[amy]

um...if you find this camp...can you let me know? :)

I'm in potty denial as well!!

[Andrea]

Two's too early to worry about it, really, no matter what some child prodigy is doing. Wait until 2 1/2, or even 3. Save yourself the stress. It will happen really quickly once he's good and ready, but before then you're just asking for accidents. Pull-ups work fine if he outgrows diapers.

[Jennifer]

I agree! I don't want anyone else I have to take to the bathroom anywhere! I still don't get why people are so anxious to potty train- its cheaper, but what's more important here? Saving a few bucks or mom's sanity? None of mine ever were interested until they turned three- personally I think that they sometimes get disinterested if you try and start too early. 2 is too early in my opinion, but everyone's different.

I've got TWO of them this time and I'm waiting until the LAST MINUTE! HA.

[Goldberry]

We introduced the potty seat early and my daughter used it as a treasure chest for a little while. Eventually, she saw Mommy sitting on the potty and she copied me. About two months later, I just removed her pants and diaper and Wala! A potty trained little girl!

We still have the occasional accident, but I am proud of her success so far!

[Alice H]

Heh, I DID send my son off to potty training camp. My next door neighbor has done child care for an eternity, so I shipped him off to her house during the day for three days. She had him potty trained to the point of less than an accident a day by the end of the three days (with the exception of nights, when he still wore a pullup).

Unfortunately, at the beginning of September Boo got a parasite and had pervasive diarrhea for over two weeks before the doctors were able to diagnose and treat it. We put him back in pullups, and his potty training went right out the window. So we're back to training again.

Worse comes to worst, I will probably be on bed rest in about eight weeks, and Boo will be going to the neighbor's house then and she isn't going to change diapers for him, so he'll get re-trained then.

And we didn't potty train until a few months shy of three years - my neighbor and my mother-in-law both agreed that he wasn't showing any signs of being ready.

Oh, by the way - the bathrooms in Home Depot are all the way in the back, kind of in the middle - usually directly back from Paint.

[Maria]

You've got me laughing - if you've ever tried to find a potty in the Home Depot you know how wonderful diapers are!!! My oldest trained in 2 weeks. His little brother wanted to be like his big brother and started training way too early. 1 1/2 yrs later he's 90% daytime trained but who knows when we'll give up the pull ups. I've told the kids we will consider a dog when the baby (now 16 mos) is trained - my Mom says the boys will have trained before she's 2... Good luck!

[Traci]

The best advice I can give is that he will let you know when HE is ready. We switched to pull ups at 2 and we didn't even start potty training until he was almost 3, because it wasn;'t until then that he begin to start having that feeling of needing to go. It only took a few weeks to completely eliminate the pull ups. It was so much easier since he was ready. It wasn't us trying to push it on him.