So…… we tried to start potty training. I had been convinced by others that 20 months was too early (and the summer schedule was so busy, there wasn’t a convenient time anyway). But now Chunky Monkey is 23 months and I have started to see so many other children around me (around age 2), who were starting to use the potty. So, I thought, “I must not be too crazy to think about trying”. Right?
Well…..like everything else with our son, it has not been a text book experience. With tummy time, crawling, walking, eating…and now peeing/pooping – it seems my son doesn’t ever fit the mold of what has worked for so many others. Countless moms and dads have told me that if you try a 3-day sort of Potty boot camp, the child will figure it out. Well, I’m here to say that on day 4….my child is nowhere close to figuring it out.
We have had minor successes, so I’m not giving up completely. But I am frustrated that the well-meaning promises from experienced parents who said, “It will totally work!” have not come to fruition in this household. And believe me – we tried so many things that Pinterest promised me would work! We used a star chart, prizes, candy (which he never gets), a “potty party” for him and his dog, an Elmo potty video…and the list goes on. We celebrated every fake time his dog took a poop or pee in the potty (using a small snickers as fake poo was fun!), and did countless celebratory dances when he got even a drop of pee in the potty. Really all we could get was for him to stand on the seat of the potty with pee dripping out of his underwear that he insisted he keep on. And yes – we celebrated. I’m exhausted! This has felt like the longest 4 days of my life.
All I can say is that it seems like this child is really teaching me a lot about how to let go of my expectations and be willing to be patient with his unique process of adjusting or learning new things. Today I found an awesome video on toilet learning from the Montessori perspective. I’m past their 18 month suggested time frame, but I did appreciate the reminder that children will learn in their own time, and that it is a process. Even if they are just doing part of the process, it is a step in the right direction.:-)
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