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.