adventures in parenting: potty-training
i'm not sure why i'm writing this one now, honestly. keane is not potty-trained yet. we started potty-training in earnest on friday. overall he has done fairly well with the whole thing, but he still doesn't get the whole - "i tell mommy or daddy when i have to go potty" thing. we put him on the potty every half hour or so, and he usually goes. but he's not the one that initiates the conversation.
a couple rounds into it on friday he didn't want to try sitting on the potty. he was mad that i paused a show he was watching so he could try to go, and he sat on the potty for about 5 seconds. maybe 15 or 20 minutes later i took adele upstairs to put her down for her morning nap. when i came back downstairs keane was in the kitchen along with a rather large puddle...
his underwear and shorts [the shorts he insisted on wearing. i was going to have him run around in his undies] didn't appear very wet though.
upon further investigation i discovered that he must have done his best to get his undies and shorts out of the way so he could pee in the doorway of the pantry. because clearly that is a better spot than the potty.
i'm not sure why i didn't realize that before.
saturday night he came out of his room when he wasn't supposed to, and after using "poopy" as an excuse to sit on the potty [which he did not do, but peed instead and insisted he was all done] he was taken back to his room. not three minutes later he came out of his room again insisting now that he did have to go stinky poopy.
i made a deal with him that if he didn't actually go we would have to close his door the whole way for the rest of the night instead of leaving it open how we usually do. i also told him it was the very last time he was getting out of his bed.
he agreed to my terms, though he didn't like the idea of leaving his door closed. and lo and behold he actually pooped on the potty. [and then he kept saying "i did have to go poopy!"]
of course yesterday he pooped in his undies about 5 minutes after sitting on the potty. then last night he tried the same tactics coming out of his room to "go poopy", and ended up sitting on the potty for about 20 minutes without pooping. and i ended up going to bed about an hour later than i wanted to after his stalling.
i keep reminding him of daniel tiger's potty song - "if you have to go potty, stop and go right away. flush, and wash, and be on your way." he likes the second sentence, but the first one escapes him when he'd rather eat, or watch a show, or build with his legos, or run laps inside the house, or basically anything that he deems enjoyable.
this morning was the real kicker though. i had already decided i was going to go ahead and go to the gym and the grocery store because peter's coaching season officially starts today, and we needed food. and frankly, i needed a break and a run. as i'm getting ready for the gym the timer goes off. he didn't want to sit on the potty. again. but he sat there for about a minute, maybe two, and then said he didn't have to go.
i'm pretty sure i set the timer for 10 minutes. i continued getting ready for the gym [as adele rapidly got angry with me because she really just wanted to go to sleep], and a few minutes later keane comes running into the room.
i asked if he had to go potty, and he nodded yes.
as i got him on the potty i discovered that he had already peed in his undies some. but his legs were also wet. and then i found the trail. the trail of pee from right next to the dining room table the whole way into our room.
then i put a pull-up on him.
i'm not 100% sure he's ready for this whole thing. or maybe i'm just not ready to be constantly crawling on my hands and knees across the width of two rooms trying to dab urine out of the carpet.
i don't know if it's normal to hate potty-training. i don't know if it's normal to cry, and feel like a terrible parent in the midst of it. i don't know. i kind of hope it is, because otherwise i'll feel even crappier than i do now.
it has been a rough few days. after i told peter about our adventure with the carpet cleaner this morning we decided that it's probably best to not put a ton of pressure on the situation. i don't know if that's actually best or not, but we'll keep plugging away when we're at home, and keep asking when we go out somewhere, but not push it.
because i like my sanity to stay intact. and it has been avoiding me lately.
ah, parenting. sigh.
a couple rounds into it on friday he didn't want to try sitting on the potty. he was mad that i paused a show he was watching so he could try to go, and he sat on the potty for about 5 seconds. maybe 15 or 20 minutes later i took adele upstairs to put her down for her morning nap. when i came back downstairs keane was in the kitchen along with a rather large puddle...
his underwear and shorts [the shorts he insisted on wearing. i was going to have him run around in his undies] didn't appear very wet though.
upon further investigation i discovered that he must have done his best to get his undies and shorts out of the way so he could pee in the doorway of the pantry. because clearly that is a better spot than the potty.
i'm not sure why i didn't realize that before.
saturday night he came out of his room when he wasn't supposed to, and after using "poopy" as an excuse to sit on the potty [which he did not do, but peed instead and insisted he was all done] he was taken back to his room. not three minutes later he came out of his room again insisting now that he did have to go stinky poopy.
i made a deal with him that if he didn't actually go we would have to close his door the whole way for the rest of the night instead of leaving it open how we usually do. i also told him it was the very last time he was getting out of his bed.
he agreed to my terms, though he didn't like the idea of leaving his door closed. and lo and behold he actually pooped on the potty. [and then he kept saying "i did have to go poopy!"]
of course yesterday he pooped in his undies about 5 minutes after sitting on the potty. then last night he tried the same tactics coming out of his room to "go poopy", and ended up sitting on the potty for about 20 minutes without pooping. and i ended up going to bed about an hour later than i wanted to after his stalling.
i keep reminding him of daniel tiger's potty song - "if you have to go potty, stop and go right away. flush, and wash, and be on your way." he likes the second sentence, but the first one escapes him when he'd rather eat, or watch a show, or build with his legos, or run laps inside the house, or basically anything that he deems enjoyable.
this morning was the real kicker though. i had already decided i was going to go ahead and go to the gym and the grocery store because peter's coaching season officially starts today, and we needed food. and frankly, i needed a break and a run. as i'm getting ready for the gym the timer goes off. he didn't want to sit on the potty. again. but he sat there for about a minute, maybe two, and then said he didn't have to go.
i'm pretty sure i set the timer for 10 minutes. i continued getting ready for the gym [as adele rapidly got angry with me because she really just wanted to go to sleep], and a few minutes later keane comes running into the room.
i asked if he had to go potty, and he nodded yes.
as i got him on the potty i discovered that he had already peed in his undies some. but his legs were also wet. and then i found the trail. the trail of pee from right next to the dining room table the whole way into our room.
then i put a pull-up on him.
i'm not 100% sure he's ready for this whole thing. or maybe i'm just not ready to be constantly crawling on my hands and knees across the width of two rooms trying to dab urine out of the carpet.
i don't know if it's normal to hate potty-training. i don't know if it's normal to cry, and feel like a terrible parent in the midst of it. i don't know. i kind of hope it is, because otherwise i'll feel even crappier than i do now.
it has been a rough few days. after i told peter about our adventure with the carpet cleaner this morning we decided that it's probably best to not put a ton of pressure on the situation. i don't know if that's actually best or not, but we'll keep plugging away when we're at home, and keep asking when we go out somewhere, but not push it.
because i like my sanity to stay intact. and it has been avoiding me lately.
ah, parenting. sigh.
xoxo
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