Potty training

Potty training is the WORST part of parenting. I am so not a fan of it. It's so unpredictable, what works for one kid, doesn't work on the next. So I'm a fan of waiting until close to 3 years old, when I get struck by a whim and springing on my child one day.

I got struck by that whim 2 weeks ago. My little Henry who followed the mold of potty training right before 3 and being night trained at the same time, has regressed. Oddly, about 8 months after potty training he started having some nighttime accidents. They have come and go, and aren't consistent enough for me to want to put a diaper on him. This fall, he started having day accidents too. OVER A YEAR after he was trained. Things were spiraling downward fast, and all of a sudden he was peeing his pants more than not. I started looking at him like a bad dog. It didn't help that him and G. growled at each other when they were fighting. I had to put a stop to the animal like behavior.

I decided to reward them both with cars for going potty. I didn't know if it would work, but when the idea flew into my head, I had to move on it before the idea flew back out (thus the workings of my brain these days). I told G. I would give him a "NEW CAR" if he went potty. He immediately took his diaper off and peed in the potty. Hmmm, I thought. That was easy. So we kept going with it. That night, he pooped on the carpet. Had to pull out the carpet cleaner, but kept moving forward. It took Henry a few days to earn his first car. But Henry hasn't peed his pants during the day since then. YAY! Still doing the unexpected night accidents with Hen, but I'm still not sure what to do about that.

Henry's challenge is impulse. He is the SORRIEST little boy ever, telling me, "I'm so sorry Mom. I will NEVER do that again." But in the heat of the moment, if he's worried about losing his toy, or his spot at the table, he would rather pee his pants than get up and surrender the moment. I'm glad we've moved past that for now, and I know how to get rid of that habit should it arise again in the future.

G. was pretty much potty trained immediately. He had one wetting accident a day for 3 days, and never pooped in his underpants. I didn't know it was possible to escape the dreaded potty training without the casualty of a few pairs of underpants.

Things are still going great, 2 weeks in. I'm very pleased. He's still not sure he likes it......Today he asked for a diaper. We had to have a complicated discussion about it. You have to be careful not to step on that boy's toes, he will blow up at you. I made the mistake of saying we should save the diapers for baby Walker, and he did NOT like that.

So he is dry day and night, just like the others. I can't quite believe it was so easy. This G. monster keeps me guessing every time. There have been so many "not so easy" things with him.

Oh yeah, and I cracked the whip on growling, so hopefully I got rid of the feral children and can raise these kids like human beings.

Now if I can teach G. to keep his pants on while he pees...... don't be surprised if you see him half naked for awhile, he just doesn't see the need to put them back on when he's done.