Warning: We're talking about potty training peeps. Words like pee and potty will be present in this post.
Confession: I love diapers.
Sure, potty training is great and all, but diapers are so
easy. Going to the store? Not a problem. 2 hour car trip to Nana's? Just go in your diaper! No crazed looks and the dreaded phrase, "Mommy! I have to go potty right now!" right in the middle of...well...anything.
So. I've been procrastinating the whole potty training business. In my defense, Spencer has been teething and subsequently waking a bajillion times a night and in my sleep deprived state, I am
so not in the mood to be cleaning up accidents (because every time I think of potty training, I truly just envision little puddles all over my apartment. And the place is mostly carpet).
But Nathan is showing signs of being ready. He knows when he needs to pee, and he can hold it until we get a diaper on him. He has also developed the habit of standing there and telling me when he's peeing into his diaper. So I have been halfheartedly been making a plan to actually get the ball rolling on this one. We still have tons of trains from our
Big Thomas the Tank Engine Craigslist Purchase, so we have plenty of potty prizes to motivate and inspire, but they have been hanging out in Nana's garage. In recent weeks as Nathan is getting ready for his bath, we have been asking him if he wants to pee in his Lightning McQueen potty that has been sitting in the bathroom for months now. His answer is usually "no! pee in diaper!" - he then pees in his diaper before getting into the tub.
But Nana brought up all the trains from her garage a couple of weeks ago, so now I am fully armed with my
bribes motivation. In the last week or so I have been telling Nathan before his bath that if he pees in the potty, he will get a new train. He seemed intrigued by the idea, but still refused. I figured I needed to actually go get a train from my stash and show it to him to provide sufficient motivation and I mentioned that to John.
And so tonight, John went and grabbed a train from the bag and brought it into the bathroom as Nathan was getting out of the bathtub. It was Gordon (the train, I mean, from the Thomas series). And Nathan was SO excited at the idea of having and playing with Gordon. We told him "If you pee in the potty, you can have Gordon!". He was thrilled. He sat on the potty for a second, then jumped up and said "Gordon please!". Hmm. We checked the potty - nothing was there. "If you pee in the potty, you can have Gordon!" "Okay!" He sits back down again. Nothing happens. "Gordon please!"
After a few minutes of this he finally seemed to get the idea that he needed to actually pee. So he sat there on his potty for several minutes. I told him he didn't have to go right now, we could wait until tomorrow. "No. Gordon please" And so we waited. And waited. It seemed that he was going to sit there until he peed and got his Gordon.
I did not anticipate this level of determination.
After about 10 minutes of alternating between sitting there and then jumping up to check, I went and got him a cup of water to speed things up a bit. And still we waited. He spilled a little bit of water on himself and we got him dried off. After another 5-7 minutes he got this look of excitement on his face.
"Did you pee in the potty?"
"No!"
"What? Let me see."
We checked the potty and there was something in there! I smelled it - it smelled like pee. (Okay, I smelled it because he had spilled water everywhere earlier, geez)
"Look Nathan! Did you pee in the potty?!"
"No!"
"Are you sure?"
I called for John. John came in and asked him again.
"Did you pee in the potty?"
"Yeah!"
Um, what? We debated whether or not it was really pee (I know, the conversations you have as a parent). He had spilled water, the McQueen potty was purchased secondhand, maybe it's the residual smell, yeah, but she had bleached it before selling it to us, and the pee-smell is really strong.
And so, amid utter confusion, we gave him Gordon.
Better luck next time?
