Potty Training Dallin

I guess I wanted to make January monumental & slowly recover from PTSD for the rest of my life. I decided to potty train Dallin at 22 months. Gammi already got us the cars underwear & potty seat.

"Guys potty training is so draining! BUT after I talked to several close friends about their success at a younger age following Lexi, it stayed on my mind. Even the 3-day training that was such a success with Lexi said 22 months was ideal. But he is a BOY & everyone likes to say they are harder. I dread this more than nursing! Due to my feelings about Dallin who SEEMed ready according to all those who say "what really matters" (interested, randomly taking off diapers, hardly wet at night, able to communicate) & the timing of a new baby, I thought I'd give it a shot. I keep telling myself it'll be nice to avoid 2 in diapers or training while I'm nursing &or doing school drop-offs. It's now or 6 months from now. What could possible go wrong with a cute face like that!?"

BUT unlike the 3-day rule book Lexi followed to a T, even after the so called ideal timeframe, Dallin has given me a run for my money. "Tell mommy when you have to go potty" was not a magic phrase this time around. I was emotionally prepared for 3 days, so I had a breakdown on Day 4 and Day 6 where I was NOT as positive as a perfect mom would have been. And the days are still going my friends, until the diapers come back out permanently cause I can only handle wiping legs for so long. I mean I'm so jaded, I had a couple nights where I woke up dreaming of him peeing as if I had to go to him. Those nights of restlessness allowed for much impatience the following day. I still need to repent for those moments. I never want to relive them. 

Pee time: Day 1 seemed fine. Normal. We loaded him with juice & by noon his bare bum was with Dad in the bathroom watching a movie. He peed 3 times on the floor in that bathroom. I took Lexi to a birthday party. That afternoon he didn't have an accident with me watching him. Everything seemed great. Days 2 & 3 are now a blur. He was holding in his poop so that was our big concern. We gave him lots of peaches & Miralax on Day 4 & Dad got to enjoy that little miracle while I ran to the grocery store. We were hoping that the aversion would be gone. But Days 5 & 6 got worse with the pee accidents. The messes are easy enough to clean up. It's just the time required & the repeated "he isn't getting it" that hurts. Our successes are all due to me convincing him to go in one way or another when his signs are obvious. The accidents happen when I no longer have time to follow him around all day long or when he is too stubborn to be encouraged even when you can easily tell he is holding it & ready to burst.

Day 7 is still pee torture. I still have to convince him to pee when he is starting to hold it a little too much. It slays me. Three hours after his morning pee, we finally get him to pee. He does this twice within 30 min so we think it's safe to try a quick venture to the park (since Lexi did that on Day 3!). Turns out, it wasn't. He wets his pants as soon as we make it to the park. It had just rained so who cares. He definitely didn't! He doesn't give me any advanced verbal cues. He doesn't try to pee on his own. IF it bothers him, he will change his underwear when he can & move on with life.

Poop time: We have only had evening potty poops after the Miralax + that one morning accident mentioned below. I was ready to give up yesterday while Mr Smith was away learning Spanish; end of Day 6 was my other breakdown day (where he was in a diaper for 20 min until Mr Smith got home) and then by some miracle, after having fussed at him for his 6th pee accident that afternoon, he gets up from playing, goes to the potty & poops! POOPS! I guess that was the miracle I needed.

Bedtime: After the first two nights, he has made it through the nights dry. The morning of Day 5 I should have known to be there when he woke up (after an evening of Miralax) because that was the poop accident of a lifetime that I deserve since Lexi never gave us one. I was still calm; it was understandable. There was poop on the toilet, so it gave me hope he attempted to get there afterwards. I found him replacing his underwear with poop hands and butt smudges. He woke up at 2/230 those first two nights when he was wet. I'm hoping those will be rare. 

Nap time: He naps without issue. Easy enough to go potty beforehand. 

Motives: He will sit there if he can watch a video. Moana & car videos have been his requests. If he gets regular, then maybe this wouldn't be the worst, but I still have no idea when he needs to go & I don't have weeks to wait around on him. I just can't. I'm obviously doing something wrong if we can't get him to want to go to the potty on his own, like that little poo miracle. So do we just assume he needs more time? Do we try to be patient? IS IT EVEN POSSIBLE? And will our impatience just make things worse? Most likely. We tried some stickers. We tried some treats. We tried the big boys don't wet their underwear & babies wear diapers conversation. He has had plenty of successes where we got him to the potty in time with lots of praise; I would think it should have clicked. We have turned off TV time because I know that's a distraction & I've been battling that with Lexi who will plug back in the cord. Not enough praise? Started treats too early? Too inconsistent with incentives? I don't know. So help me, I'm done talking about pee pee, which by the way, he doesn't even try to aim.

So at least he can hold it? Is that the bright side? That was the hardest thing with Lexi I feel like. So maybe I'll just spend my life watching for him to hold it & then let him watch a video as he pees? Is that my new life? Will he just get more stubborn and actually want diapers as a crutch if I wait until 6 months from now? Sigh. To be continued I guess. I'll give it another weekend with Mr Smith's support and then reevaluate if he has progressed at all. PS - with teething molars, we are touching our penis AND our mouth. Just lovely.