Training

Exciting news: we're close to having successfully potty trained our 12th child. So, that is what this blog post is about. Feel free to read on if you're wondering how it went for us this time. Past trainings: Lily, Sophi (she was harder to train), Natalie, Owen, Daniel. A little over two weeks ago, Corey said it was really time to teach this kid to use the toilet. I don't know why it's always Corey that decides when this should happen. Maybe he can tell I'm avoiding it? Ugh. I didn't have it in me and I didn't want to do it. Peter hasn't been addicted to a bottle like Daniel, so he doesn't go through many diapers at all, I don't want to be taken out of my comfort zone in this area while I'm in my 8th month of pregnancy, but... fine. Corey started dropping hints in March and the training potty has been in our bathroom. Peter likes his book and has sat willingly on a few occasions during March and April, so, I kinda tried then, Peter had a few hit and misses over those weeks. Here he is on April 26, reading his puppy potty book - 

Then last week, as Corey brought it up again, I thought "Well, Peter does wake up dry..." Corey wasn't nagging me about it, but I decided I could and would put forth a token effort by trying to catch Peter and helping him go in the mornings. That would be easy enough, and maybe it would help him get the hang of it. The first morning, he sat on his little potty watching tv for an hour - nothing, then I let him have breakfast and luckily he was still dry, so then I had him sit for another 2 hours and he was surprised when he had his first success. Good job Peter! After that I didn't want to worry about it so I put a diaper back on him. The next morning, same thing but it was faster. I put PBS kids on via my phone on the side of the tub this time and he sat there and waited. That only took like 20 minutes. We've had success every morning since and I got brave enough to put the thick training underwear on him. He had one accident when we were at violin (and I forgot to bring spare clothes, so he wore a diaper and no pants after that) but that was the last accident and he soon got #1 totally down. He would even go pull down his pants on his own and seemed very pleased with himself that he learned a new skill. I've let him go without underwear cause those were a little hard for him to get off and that's made it easier for him. He's independent with that and has used the big potty too.

Oh, and not wearing underwear makes him stop with #2 faster, cause he doesn't like the feeling of a mess rolling around in his pant legs, which happened like 3 times. He was starting to understand the feelings of when it was coming on and what to do. This past Monday, he hadn't gone #2 for over 24 hours and I knew it was coming. He caught himself after only making a slight mess in his pants, and came running and I sat him down on the little potty. But the #2 was too big and was still touching him after it should have been gone and off him, so he was freaking out, so I picked him up from the training potty and moved him through the air over to our toilet, and the #2 that he was finishing trying to poop fell on the floor and I didn't see it but I did feel it as I stepped right in it, all between my toes. I don't think that's happened since I was a kid and stepped in dog do. Peter's #2 smells linger big time. Like even when he was in diapers, after a #2, I had to give him a bath and change his clothes or else he just kept smelling poopy all day. So I washed my foot but I had to use my hands, and scrub and sanitized afterward as much as I might, much like his clothes, the smell was on my hand the rest of the day. But that's been the grossest moment and I don't think it will get any worse than tat. I'm hopeful that most of the hard work, cause yesterday we had our first #2 complete success in the toilet, and with that success, he's been accident free for 3 days. He was diaper free today and I think he's close to having #2 down, fingers crossed. There will probably be a few accidents here and there, but it's wasn't a long and painful experience. So this is a nice surprise for me - I've had a child in diapers for the past 22 years, and now I get a break for 2+ weeks! Wow! We are diaper free for the first time since January 2000 when our decades of diapers began after Joseph was born. Pretty exciting.