I've just spent 4 days, hunkered down in my house, waging a war. A war that I had to win. A war of epic proportions.
A war against diapers.
Yes, I've just spent the last 4 days potty training. Actually, I've
spent the last couple of weeks potty training, but the last 4 days have
been potty training boot camp. Not leaving the house, naked child, go
to the potty every 20 minutes, potty training boot camp.
I have found potty training to be the hardest thing I have done in
my little over 3 years as a parent. At first, I didn't really care
about it. I was in the "he'll do it when he is ready camp. And he is
clearly not ready yet." My pediatrician told me you need three things,
verbal skills, sensation, and desire. Michael clearly had the verbal
skills, we didn't know if he had the sensation, but he definitely did
not have the desire.
And
then it became clear that if I waited for him to want to do it, he was
never going to do it. Because he simply didn't care. It was not an
issue that was important to him. Not like Steve finding the last clue
on Blue Clues, or how much milk he had to drink before he
could have some juice. But more and more, he wanted to be a big boy.
And the more I told him he wasn't a big boy until he wore underwear,
the madder at me he got. And I knew I had my strategy. Big
boy=underwear, baby=diapers.
So we went to he store and bought underwear, and a week later he
started wearing them around the house. And then to daycare. And then
4 days of intensive nothing but going to the potty boot camp. And some
of the worst temper tantrums I have ever seen.
I wish I could say it was easy. I tried a lot of different
methods. The timer, being naked, m & m bribes. But really, it
just took time and patience. And being patient is not something I'm
good at.
And I think we may be there. I think we may have cleared my biggest
parenting hurdle to date. But I'm sure the next one is right around
the corner.
