This is a post that I have been putting off. I've wanted to record my account but frankly it was too stressful at the time and the status seemed to change day to day. What in the world am I talking about?!? Potty training. The two words that most parents simultaneously look forward to and dread. It means freedom from changing diapers but the process can be grueling.
Let me start with the good news. Reed is potty trained! Hip, hip, hooray!!
Let me also say, it was NOT easy getting here.
Since Reed was an infant, I've heard from Reed's daycare provider about the miraculous one day method. She's trained many kids (around 20-ish) I think, and frankly, back when I was working, my intention was just to have her train him. But, alas, things change. She told me about the seminar she was holding to teach parents how to potty train their child in one day (though she said to expect more like a week.) So I signed up and went and was very excited to do it. I felt like Reed was ready and we could just knock it out in a weekend.
I planned a Friday a few weeks out and prepared myself, reading the book Azrin and Foxx Toilet Training in Less Than a Day. In the week leading up to the proposed training day, Reed had a regression where he wanted to be treated like a baby. Well, being a big boy is a key point in this method so we postponed, deciding it would be better to start something like this after the excitement of the holidays anyway.
Monday, January 10th was the big day. Bob took Cora for the morning while Reed and I followed the potty training protocol. We took off his diaper and he hasn't worn one since. Reed loved that he was getting lots of special drinks and snacks. That morning we had a lot of successes as well as accidents. I was told that by lunch time that you've pretty much done all the work and that it is just reinforcement from there on out.
All morning we had been back and forth only between his room and the bathroom with all distractions removed. After nap time, we headed downstairs to the living room and let him start playing with toys. Though we put down a layer of plastic under a blanket, I was still on edge that he was going to have an accident all over our Persian rug. How selfish, right? He didn't have an accident, until dinner. That night I was never so relieved when I put him into his "night time underwear" (Pull Ups.) I went to bed emotionally and physically exhausted, unsure of whether it worked or not. The next day he went to daycare for reinforcement. Being encouraged by the big kids was a big help. The accidents were becoming few and far between in the next days.
But then they started up again. I felt like throwing my hands up in the air. Sue was counseling me daily, encouraging me, giving me pointers, and relating Reed to the one boy that seemed to take longer than the others. She described him as very active and intelligent (like Reed) and also mentioned that he had gotten sick while training and that prolonged things. What do you know, Reed suddenly came down with a fever of 104 degrees. It turned out that Reed had an ear infection.
I believe being ill had an affect on the training process. The hardest part for me was following through with the training techniques when he was ill ("practicing" after each accident.) For any parent who has taken care of a sick child, you know it is draining. For any parent who has potty trained a child, you know it is exhausting. I felt overwhelmed, but I knew that if this potty training was going to ever "take" I needed to continue to follow through.
After Reed was on antibiotics a few days, I could see real progress with the pottying. After two weeks, he was self-initiating all his trips to make pee-pees in the potty. Somehow we couldn't get the poo-poos down. Then one day last week, it clicked. He took the ring(the smaller seat) off the potty, sat down on the toilet, and said, "Big boys sit on the potty like Mommy and Daddy," and he went #2. That's all folks.
The first two weeks were extremely ridden with anxiety. The third week was a new worry about going out in public, finding bathrooms and all that good stuff. And last week was SO MUCH better.
Potty trained in one month. In retrospect, I feel that's pretty good, though at the time I kind of felt like a failure. It is 4 times longer than I anticipated, but when you hear the statistic that the average toddler takes 8 months to train, it's pretty darn good. Reed manages his business by himself. If he has to go, he walks in and goes, flushes, and washes his hands himself. He uses the big potty. Thankfully no potty chair to mess with.
While I didn't get the one day results, I am thankful for reading the book. I feel that it taught me as a parent, above all else, to follow through. The fastest way to get through to a child is to give them a consistent message. Over and over and over and over...
