Adventures In Potty Training

"Of all the animals, the boy is the most unmanageable."   ~Plato

Today was a long day. Zach has been in underwear (when he's awake) for the most part for close to two weeks. He's doing ... ok. A few accidents here and there, but for the most part we've made him go potty nearly every hour, on the hour. Lately when I've tried to get him to go that often, he's refused. So instead of turning it into a fight, I've decided to wait until he agrees because who really needs to pee every hour? He's been doing pretty well with that; he doesn't tell us when he needs to go potty but if he needs to go when we ask then he'll go willingly. This morning I was a pretty happy camper because, after declining to go potty twice, he announced that he needed to go and ran to the bathroom. YAY! First time he's ever told me without being asked first. He wanted to go by himself which he can manage pretty well, so I let him. I heard him slide the stepstool over to the toilet ... and then I heard a lot of crying. I guess he just couldn't get his pants off in time, resulting in him peeing his pants while standing on the stepstool directly in front of the toilet. No big deal. Took a quick bath and life was good. Until it happened again.

After the second peeing-his-jeans incident, I just didn't get him dressed from the waist down thinking maybe that would help him, as it seemed to be a timing issue. Then, as I was getting lunch on the table, he again stated that he had to go potty. He was in our entryway about 3 feet from the bathroom, so I told him "ok, go potty" figuring that he would walk into the bathroom and use the toilet. Hahaha. Immediately after told him to go potty, he peed all over my entryway. Thank God he missed every shoe but one Croc, which was easily washed. I'm getting a little frustrated now, but try not to get upset. Have Zach finish going on the potty. Clean him up for the third time today. Clean up the floor for the third time today. Take off the pair of socks I was wearing, since I'd accidentally stepped in fresh pee. Time for lunch!

After lunch while I was cleaning up Boy#4 who had made a GIANT mess of his chili mac, I sent Zach into the bathroom and told him "Go in the bathroom and go potty before nap please." Maybe I should have learned my lesson from that last incident before lunch, but I thought I was being specific enough. I hear peeing. And then I hear "I pooping, Mommy!" That last line always makes me run to make sure that he's actually sitting on the potty as opposed to standing in front of it (yea, he likes to pee standing up ...). What I find: a large puddle of pee on the floor in front of the sink, which Zach then walked through to the toilet (about a foot away from the puddle) so that he could sit down and poop. At this point, I was just pissed. I could not find any legitimate reason for his peeing on the floor, especially when he obviously knows better than to poop on the floor. So I did what I have always tried so hard not to do when it comes to potty training: I scolded. Right after I praised him for pooping on the potty. And I made sure to let him know that I was NOT happy (which I felt really bad about a little bit later!). So ... clean up Zach again, lay a towel over the mess, get the two boys into diapers (or a fresh diaper in Boy#4's case), and down for their naps. And then I mop the floor for the fourth time today while I try to hold back tears of frustration.

Fortunately for me, Zach likes long naps. And Boy#4 napped well today too, which means I got to sit and recharge for quite a while after cleaning my floor again. Definitely improved my mood! During this time it hit me: Cheerios! We gave it a shot after naptime. Zach found it hilarious and asked to pee in the potty three times in the first twenty minutes after I let him try that cool "game". He also asked me if I wanted to pee on Cheerios too :) It seemed to work - there were no more accidents the rest of the day! And by the end of the night he told me that he didn't want Cheerios and just peed in the potty. We'll see what tomorrow brings; I may break out the Cheerios first thing in the morning just to gently reiterate to Zach that he needs to pee IN the potty. (I will also note that Zach did GREAT at pooping on the potty today, which he did three times on his own. VERY happy about that!)

But in getting to the point of my long story, I wanted to share some things that I realized I was thankful for today. I spent some time while the boys were napping trying to put myself back into a positive frame of mind. Not my usual process, but since I'm not able to have a drink for another 4 months I figured it was worth a shot ;) Here it goes:

I am thankful that the four puddles of pee I had to clean up this morning were all on my hard floors and not on my carpet.
I am thankful that none of the messes I had to clean up involved poop on my floor (or anywhere else).
I am thankful for Lysol wipes and Swiffer Wet.
I am thankful for Cheerios ... and for whoever decided that they would make a fun thing for boys to aim at.
I am thankful for Applebee's Carside-To-Go. No way did I have the energy to cook dinner after a morning like that!