Saturday, February 25, 2012

biggest mama challenge.... the potty

I like to think I am a good mama to my boys. I remember when leo was just a new little baby and I was able to handle those sleepless nights because I knew that he was so much more important than my own sleep. Same with wyatt. Total sacrifice of love.

Even though I hate to admit it, potty training broke me. It's been 9 months from the moment I first introduced the potty to leo. He fought the process a lot and took a long time of back and forth trying with him, but we DID have success and he was pretty much potty trained before he started daycare september 1st... hallelujah!

Then he started having an accident a day at daycare.... then 2... then 3... I decided to send him in pull ups since I was feeling bad for the daycare staff... Then he started throwing fits at home, and no more going on the potty! Every time I asked, he said "no" and every time I forced him to sit down one or both of us would end up in tears.

One evening before bed, I tried the potty again... and again he was refusing.. I instantly get SO annoyed with him that I told him "you're driving me crazy!! just go pee already!" But he was upset and I was upset, so I called colin over to take over bedtime and took a break. Later, when colin was settling leo into bed (he was crying), leo says to his daddy... "daddy, mommy's crazy". colin just laughed and probably agreed with him.

I couldn't figure it out... this kid was stubbornly refusing to use the potty!!  why would a previously almost potty trained kid regress back to the beginning and have absolutely zero interest??? I felt like I was in a constant battle... and I was totally losing. How does a 3 year old beat his mama at this?? I thought I was good at this whole parenting thing....  the worst part was that he would still use the potty at daycare sometimes.... how come his own mama can't get him to use the potty but a daycare provider can???? that doesn't work for me, leo... no that does not!

So guess what? I gave him a couple of months and now I've had enough...  I have bought my last package of pull ups... i hope... I've gotten to my breaking point (again) .. I bought a jumbo pack of new underwear and that kid is going to wear them all... the.... time! (except for naps and bedtime to start). I don't care how much laundry i have to do! Even if he wont tell me he has to go, we're going anyway. the potty train has arrived...

It's been almost a week now... he still doesn't tell us when he has to go, but he's dry until we make him go... which is better than our previous attempts... only 1 success with #2 so far... he likes to save that for when he's in a pull up at nap time or first thing in the morning... sigh... but seriously... this is going to work... this is going to work..... this is going to work... right??

3 comments:

  1. It's going to work!! Stay positive!! Our little boys can be so stubborn and they definitely have a will of their own! But at some point they have to stop the diaper trend and start the potty one!
    The pooping will come with time, I hear thats usually the harder one. :) Good luck!!

    ReplyDelete
  2. it's hard. really hard. if it's easy it's probably because the child was actually ready ;) i dread potty training. if he's staying dry all day then that's more than half the battle, if you ask me! these kids are just so strong, but that's a good thing :)
    it'll come soon enough and the memories of frustration will fade away, it always does. stick with it!

    ReplyDelete
  3. thanks guys. it's helped to think about my whole attitude in approaching potty training. it's been so long that any patience i had is long gone... so i started over on my end and exercising oodles of patience and positive attitudes... so far we're still doing ok... not many accidents and a routine is starting to develope. No success yet with #2...

    ReplyDelete