F

To say that Ben got an "F" in potty training today would be an understatement. I spoke too soon yesterday with my hopeful banter about having him trained before long.

Let's just say.....nothing like a catastrophic mess on your dining room floor that gets tracked all over the house to stimulate a serious house cleaning.

Hoping that tomorrow we have less resistance, less mess and more trips to the potty

Never Underestimate the Shield

Call us crazy....but we're attempting to potty train our child (a boy no less) at 21 months. There's a good chance it won't work. There's a good chance if it does work it won't last. But we're giving it a go because he seems to be ready and is definitely interested.

A few weeks back, Brian was getting Ben ready for his bath so we had a naked little boy running around the bathroom while daddy filled the tub. Ben proceeded to stand in front of our toilet, stick out his little hips and pee right on the toilet. We took that as a good sign. In the last week or two he's been OBSESSED with this potty video from "Once Upon a Potty." He was wandering around the house going "potty? potty?" Then last week he had 'the look' and said "potty?" so we rushed him to the toilet but kept his diaper on and he actually pooped. Same thing happened the next day but I grabbed the tabs and got the diaper off and he sat on our toilet and did it again. So off we went to the magical land called Target to buy a potty, pull ups and baby tighty whiteys. Summary.......

Day #1 (only the afternoon)- 4 successful trips to potty with no accidents
Day #2 (morning)- 3 successful trips with a one hour dry outing in between

Day #3 (afternoon)- showing increasing resistance to the potty.....several accidents

Day #4 (today)- out running errands for much of the morning but 2 successful trips and one accident. Afternoon- no accidents and several successes of both variety.

Sometimes I think he's not actually potty training so much as being rushed to and placed on the potty every so often or when he has 'the look.' But regardless, I haven't been changing nearly as many diapers in the past few days and if he has to go, he'll go when put on the potty. Sometimes I think he just likes looking in the potty to see what is there when he's done. It's a chance to build up his own self-confidence and give himself a pat on the back (and a wipe).

It's hit or miss.....literally. Our potty came with a "male shield" and we laughed it off and tossed it aside not sure what the heck it was for. After getting sprayed and having a rather wet seat and surrounding area, we realized the pertinence of the little green shield. Brian told me the other day that he successfully managed to get all the pee in the potty using the green police riot shield. Note to all parents or future parents....don't underestimate the shield.

Back to Blogging

I've resolved to start blogging again. Not only is it a good way for family and friends to keep up with what's going on in our lives, but it's therapeutic. It's a way of debriefing after the sometimes routine days of parenting. It's a way of reflecting on the many good things we have going in our lives that aren't always obvious in the lemons that get tossed our way. It reminds me to find find joy in the mundane. So back to blogging again....

Hmmmm what to say about the past 3 months since the last post?? Best described in a few updated pictures!

I feel like I can no longer call Ben many of the familiar pet names we have for him because the word "baby" no longer accurately describes him. We've traded out "Baby Benj, Boo Boo Baby, etc for Benny Bop, Benjo Monkey, Ben Ken" It's amazing how parenting both ages a person and also causes them to digress back into baby talk and ridiculous nicknames. Back to the point...he's not a baby. Without even realizing it, we've transitioned from baby to bona fide toddler status. Goodbye swaddling, bottles, play gyms and swings and sleepless nights (YESS). Hello decoding toddler speech, independence, potty training (more to come on that tomorrow....) and the occasional temper tantrum. Hello next stage of life