Potty Training: Day 6

Ladies and Gentlemen, this will likely be the last post of this Potty Training series. The week is almost over, and Sunday is upon us.

I had dreams last Sunday of walking into the nursery tomorrow saying, "He's in big boy undies; please remind him to go potty every once in awhile." But I'm just not that confident, yet, so we'll be heading to church in diapers.

However, I feel that every day has gotten better. Today Caleb was in diapers when we went grocery shopping and to a picnic at lunch, but was otherwise in his undies. I was surprised that he kept his diapers mostly dry, and went to the potty when we asked him, even when he'd been in a diaper for awhile. So even with the safety net of a diaper, he held his bladder, which I thought was a good sign. And we had another naptime without wetting the bed! His one accident today happened at dinner, and I had tried and tried to get him to go potty beforehand, but he was more hungry than anything, and wouldn't hear of it. Then of course, he was pretty upset when he again had to wait while we cleaned up the mess. I tried to reason with him that if he'd gone potty before dinner, he wouldn't have to be waiting for it now, but I'm not sure that got through to him. Pretty sure it didn't.

All in all, I'd say this week has been a success. I didn't realize how hard it would be on both Caleb and myself (and Jon when he was home). It wasn't just the physical learning and cleaning up the messes; it was mentally and emotionally difficult. Caleb has gone to bed early almost every evening, wiped out from the emotions of the day. I've been asking him to grasp something he's never had to do before, to understand something about himself that he might not yet have noticed. And it's been very hard on me not to lose my patience. I have gotten frustrated at the obstinance that Caleb has shown, and his struggle to be in control of a situation. He didn't want to sit on the potty because it was not his idea and he was doing other (more fun) things. And then he would find out that his power-struggle resulted in a mess and another interruption to his playtime.

There was never a time when Caleb peed out of spite, and that reminded me that the messes he made were simply accidents, and I had no right to be frustrated at him.

So what next? Boot camp is over, so we'll again rejoin society and go about our normal days. If we're going out, I'll probably put Caleb in a diaper, then back to undies when we get back home. Hopefully, Caleb will continue to hold his bladder as he did today, and time will reinforce what he's learned about pottying. At some point we'll go on short outings with undies, and then eventually he'll be in his undies all the time.

Will I put the rugs back down? Maybe not just yet....

Though Caleb is not 100% potty trained, I am really glad we've had this week. I think it's been a good jump start to the process, and the concentrated effort has given both Caleb and Jon and I a chance to learn some things right at the beginning, such as Caleb's natural pottying habits and his response to apple juice! I feel that if I'd tried to switch between diapers and undies while continuing our regular schedules every day, I wouldn't have caught on to some of these things, and Caleb wouldn't have grasped the concept like he has.

So there you have it. He's certainly not fully potty trained, but I am very proud of the progress that Caleb has made. We've asked him to grow up a bit this week, and he's done very well with it. Thanks for your support through it all!

Caleb in is big-boy undies, getting ready for his first slip and slide experience. But that, my friends, is for another post!