Big news in the house: Nathan is on the verge of being potty trained!!
I’ve been working with him since last summer. Yes, it has taken MONTHS! I knew he was nowhere near ready, but I wanted to go ahead and introduce the idea to him. I didn’t push him and just let him get used to the potty on his own terms. At first, he wanted nothing to do with it. Then I was able to coax him into sitting on the potty fully-clothed. Then from there, I got him to sit on it with his pants off but his diaper on. Then we transitioned to diaper-less but most of the time, he still didn’t need to pee while he was on his potty. Since then, I’ve just been patiently watching him for his cues, waiting for him to be developmentally ready. (Different kids are ready at different points- some aren’t ready until after they are three years old.) He is finally at the point where he tells me when he needs to go potty. Up until now, he would tell me but then he would’t actually go while he was on his potty. Now, however, he’ll tell me and will actually pee once I get him to the bathroom. Most of the time when he wakes up in the morning, his diaper is dry. This tells me that he’s developing bladder control, so I will usher him to his potty where he will relieve himself.
Sometimes he is still mischevious though. For example, the other day he told me he needed to go potty. I checked his diaper and it was dry, so I took him into the bathroom. I couldn’t stay in there with him because I was right in the middle of doing something, so I got him situated and told him to stay on his potty until I came back.
He didn’t listen. Of course.
I heard little footsteps echoing on the linoleum, so I went in there to discover him standing up and walking around. I admonished him and told him that he needs to make sure he remains on the potty until I am able to come back. So I sat on the floor beside him and read him a book. I KNEW he had to pee because it had been a few hours since his last diaper change. After about ten more minutes of reading to him, I realized that he simply didn’t have to go. So I put my hand on the floor to help me stand up.
And my palm splashed firmly into a puddle of pee. Right in front of the bathroom sink.
I was not amused.
