This week I am attempting to get the Little Brother potty trained. I know "they" say that boys always take longer, and that very well may be true, but this little guy has been asking to go in the potty for probably the last month or so. And he will actually "go" in the potty. Each time. When Peanut was that age, she asked too......and she just smiled sweetly and sat there and didn't do anything. So while we've definitely encouraged it with the Little Brother, I haven't pressed it with Peanut still being in school.
What does Peanut being in school have to do with it? I learned the first time around {much to my surprise!!!} that it takes just as much discipline on the parent as it does on the little one. I had to just get down to business when it came time to potty train her. No random errand shopping, post office visits, limeade fixes in the middle of the day. I figured out not so quickly that you just have to been done with diapers. Put 'em underwear and you'll be cleaning up lots of messes and doing lots o' laundry for several days. No Pull Ups....because let's face it, they are just like diapers in that your toddler won't feel wet. And they need to feel wet. Makes them cold and uncomfortable...makes them figure out that hey, maybe I should be telling mommy. All this to say, that with Peanut, I stayed home and stayed put. While it took about a week....I finally had her potty trained.
In the interest of full disclosure, I am talking about potty trained during the day.....it took about another year until she was potty trained at night. But again, the night potty training? Mommy and Daddy discipline as well! Changing lots of wet sheets, but within about three weeks....she started being dry all night long.
And I know that many will argue who are you really potty training? Me or the toddler? Because sure, I wasn't comfortable letting her "go" completely by herself until probably about a year and half later (she was just over two when we potty trained). It's hard for little ones to get their pants down, do their business, wipe well, get their pants done back up, and wash their hands to mommy's satisfaction. They need some help to do all that. And to be perfectly honest, some kids still can't do all that even at age seven! But the way I figure, if they can tell you that they need to go, then they are ready. So what if you're helping them with all the logistics for some time after? You still are helping them with everything else when they are just two years old anyhow, right? Bathing, getting dressed, meals, drinks, laundry.....obviously the list is endless!
And even still, if all those logistics take a year (or two!) to get down....the savings on diapers alone are so worth it! I estimate it's anywhere from $500-$1000 in savings--and for this tight budgeted family? I'll take it!
Plain and simple.
Anyhow, all that said, I am attempting it with the Little Brother this week. I did all my shopping, running errands, etc., and we are staying home this week. Got him a potty seat (Peanut's was pink, of course!) and a set of training pants. I actually already purchased some underwear for him awhile back because they had them at Costco a few months back. So today when he woke up from his nap, the training pants (the thick cotton Gerber ones--they absorb more than underwear!) went on. No pants/shorts, just the training pants. And for the next four hours? He told me probably 5-6 six times that he had to go--and he did, each time! I only had to change him out of wet training pants twice. That's a huge victory as far as I'm concerned because Peanut didn't go down that easy. I changed her out of wet bottoms probably that many times in the first hour!
But we will see....for the rest of the week, we will be at it again each day. Hopefully we will have victory by the end of the week? If not, I am not going to sweat it. (Can you say second child???) We will just try again in another month or so and do a repeat of this week. But by the end of summer?
Definitely hope diapers will be a distant memory!
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