I’m not sure who needs more “training”

For the last two or three weeks (time gets away from me these days) we’ve been actively potty training and we’re having some success, I’m happy to report.  Monkey was NOT a fan of potty training at the beginning, every time we asked him to use the potty he’d sign “all done” and run off saying no, no, no.  We finally discovered that Monkey is much more willing to use the potty if we allow him to stand up at the toilet and we don’t try to make him sit down on either his potty chair or the toilet with a Monkey-sized seat insert.

We also discovered that Monkey covets Duhdee’s boxers.  After each trip to the potty he began running to our bedroom and stealing a pair of Duhdee’s boxers from the drawer.  He would concentrate very hard on getting those boxers pulled up to his armpits.  He could have spent a little more time making sure the boxers were right side up first but I suppose he just hadn’t gotten to that bit yet.  It really was quite cute.  We tried to convince him that the tighty-whiteys with SpongeBob and Lightening McQueen were just as cool but he was having none of that.  Last weekend at Old Navy we found Monkey sized boxers and the child is in heaven now.

So he’s now willing to stand at the potty, he’s willing to wear something other than a “‘per!” on his bum, and he is able to stay dry for a few hours at a time.  He’s still not telling us that he needs to go, we have to catch him.  We sometimes get a clue (he’ll cross his legs or grab himself …nice, I know) and we can get him to the toilet but just as often we miss the clue or there is no clue and we end up with a wet ‘per or wet boxers.

We’ve had a couple accidents (I will be over the moon the first time he goes poop on the potty and I manage to NOT get it on myself in some manner) and we’re not always the neatest (really, the worst was a public bathroom and honestly, how likely is it that he was the FIRST person to pee on the floor that day anyway?) but we’re making progress and we’re all pretty happy about it.

One day we will no longer have random, used (but dry!) ‘pers lying around the house like forgotten toys.  We will no longer be at the beck and call of a kitchen timer.  AND hopefully, one day, I will be permitted to not throw my arms over my head and scream and jump around like a fool over every drop that lands in the toilet.  In the meantime, though, it’s not so bad…in fact, it’s kind of fun!