I have decided to document our journey through potty training. So many say the details, like pregnancy discomforts, get muddled and forgotten soon after it is over. I don't want to forget this journey, it is proving to be a difficult one and one which I must undertake without choice: I have a very limited amount of diapers and no money to buy more.
6/27/11
After bathing Nicholas on Monday I reached down for a diaper and realised my supply was much more limited than I had thought. I put a disposable training pant on him and he quickly fell asleep for a nap.
I set up the potty in the play room, it only made sense. While the bathroom isn't far I can imagine the trail of pee as I rush him in there. And if part of the process is sitting for long periods of time on the potty then boredom was going to set in very quickly in such a small place. I cleared a spot, put down a splat mat and his potty on top.
When he woke up he had a drink and a while later I checked his pants. He had peed. I had no idea when he had peed. This was NOT going to work. I needed to know not only that he had peed but needed to be able to catch him in the act. How else was I suppose to get the idea to him other than rushing him to the potty when he had an accident? And if he had had his accident more than 10 minutes before discovering it then how is he really suppose to connect the act to what I am trying to explain? So I brought out his Gerber training pants.
Getting him to the potty was such an ordeal! He screamed and begged not to. This I expected, it had been his reaction to it the last couple times it was tried. Getting him to stay was another ordeal. Why would he want to stop his play and simply sit?
He didn't pee again and I suspect he was holding it and peed as soon as he was put in bed in a diaper.
6/28/11
This was the first actual day of potty training and it was a frustrating one. Nicholas was very resistant and still did not want to be on the potty at all. I decided to write down the time of every accident in hopes of finding something useful for my next day.
Sometimes I would get him on there with a huge fight and he did not want to get up. He just sat there playing with himself, many times wanting me to sit there with him. He just didn't seem to get it at all.
In all he had three accidents but I learned a lot. First thing I learned was that writing the time of each accident helped me keep track of how long he went between peeing. I also learned his signs for having to go. The third accident was close enough to the potty that I was able to catch him mid stream and sit him down with his underwear still on. The last time he was on the potty he sat for a very long time. I knew he had to pee, it had been over two hours and he had had several drinks. Finally, frustrated and willing to do anything, I grabbed some ice. I played with it and I rubbed it lightly on his neck and thighs and the soles of his feet. He enjoyed the coolness on this warm night and even offered body parts he wanted me to rub with the ice. Don't go thinking I was causing frost bite, it was barely getting him wet. He finally did pee and went to bed shortly after.
It's hot so I hand washed each pair of underwear right away for fear of having the urine dry on them. This happened once before (middle of the night explosive diaper and I decided to wait until morning to wash) and the smell penetrated the clothes real bad. Since I have a limited supply of underwear as well, and no idea as to how many I'd go through the next day, this seemed like the best thing to do. Another thing I did today was take off the top of the potty. It is suppose to cover to turn into a step stool so he can reach the sink but the way it stays when it is open is very uncomfortable for him. He tries leaning back and the hard plastic scrapes and digs into his back. So now when he leans back he is against the wall and that seems much more comfortable for him. This was tiring.
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