Potty Training for the Lazy Mom…

With the real deadline 2 months away, I decided to go with the slow and steady wins the race mentality for potty training. Don’t rush them through childhood people say, they grow up so quickly. Surely this applies to this situation as well? Nana gave us an ultimatum. He must be potty trained by the time we leave him with her for a week-long trip to Italy. Fair enough.

Truth be told, we attempted potty training a year ago at Daddy’s request, after which, he refused to sit on the potty for a good six months. One day of the two-day naked method was enough for me. It started well enough with his first pee pee landing firmly in the potty, but the rest of the day was spent cleaning up messes. Lazy (and possibly a little selfish) mommy here didn’t want to waste another day of her precious weekend holed away inside reading stories about potty superheroes and toting toilets around the house. In reality, he just wasn’t ready.

Time flies, however, and he soon reached a more realistic age to be trained. I started noticing that many children younger than him were out of diapers and excelling on the potty – nooo!  And the closer I watched, the more I noticed how it was quite inconvenient and time-consuming, especially in public. They have to go to the bathroom ALL THE TIME. Diapers have a sort of at your leisure luxury about them.  Excluding number twos of course. There is no rushing about with potty-using little ones, so expectations must be managed. Alas, I wrapped my head around the reality. I will be held up throughout the day, toting a portable potty in my trunk, and doing a few extra loads of laundry each week.

Finally, my deadline came. Two weeks with no school before the new year started, in which I could and should do the deed! Week one came and went, consumed by work. Week two my girlfriend came into town for a visit filled with things more fun. Then, on Sunday before school began, with my husband home to help. With no real plans, I conquered my laziness and got to it!

This time around it wasn’t so terrible. With better communication skills (and dark chocolate reward system in place) he seemed to get it. Until school started that is. I was helping at school that first day so figured I could help remind him to use the little boy’s room. Wrong. An accident on our way in. Another on the playground, and, finding myself without any additional changes of clothing or Sesame underpants, back into the pull-ups he went. He hasn’t had a chance to utilize all the cute new patterns by Honest subscription had to offer anyway. Potty training, to be continued. 

Potty Training Checklist

Instead of going cold turkey and diaper-free, three weeks in, we still wear pull-ups for school and outings. I try to take him as much as I can when we’re out, but don’t stress too much if he forgets that way. We’re still wearing birthday suits and underwear around the house as a reminder. We’re down to accidents mostly just while washing hands, which is kind of comical. They say that the pull-ups will hinder forward movement, but I found that he turned a corner, nonetheless, and proudly announces that he needs to use the potty even with his overnight diapers before bed! 

In the end, it wasn’t too terribly slow (or painful), but he has made steady progress and will surely make nana happy come our big trip in a month!