Who is Training Who?

Ahhhhhh…potty training. I can’t decide who is really training who with our third go at booty duty. Our first child had a good ole round of rotovirus at age two and that easily convinced our son that the potty was a better option than Mr. Droopy Diapers. Our independent middle one decided that using the big girl potty was just the thing to do and practically potty trained herself. Our third little stinker (pun intended) – well, she just can’t be bothered.

Of course, there are a bazillion and one ways to “train” your child. One of the ways is to go cold turkey, where one day it’s diapers and the next is undies (and lots of time on your hands and knees – yes, praying that they’ll “get it,” but also cleaning up pee and poo off the floor). I tried this – a feeble one-day-attempt, but I did try. Mimi bought her some adorable Tinkerbell panties and I was convinced she wouldn’t want to get them wet. Wrong.

That “cold turkey” day, I went through the whole pack of fairies and not a single one of those tiny gals stayed dry. I also cleaned up several “little presents” out of the hallway and off the bathroom floor (VERY, VERY close to the potty at least, so an “E” for effort). I guess I wasn’t determined enough, so we went back to diapers (I know, I know – Mom of the Year Award coming my way soon).

Another route folks might take is Pull-ups or other training pants. But, the pulling up and pulling down isn’t quite as fun when you don’t realize that your child actually ALREADY went poo and you yank those suckers off real quick and the poo goes ALL the way down their legs. Nice.

Some parents may even get so tired of the training process that they attempt to leave one of those handy dandy “overnight” diapers on all day just to see if they really hold 27 lbs. like it says on the package. Kidding. Kind of. Some mommies and daddies just get worn out from asking, “Do you need to go potty?” like 200 times every hour. It can be a VERY long day.

One option is something my son tried in order to help our daughter get excited about going on the potty. He tried to slowly whisper things like, “This is your conscience speaking. You really, really want to go on the potty.” It didn’t work, but I truly love him for trying.

Some may try “potty candy,” which may or may not get them to go, depending on the kiddo. We’ve used this, too, and then I thought – hmm….food in the bathroom…not sure what lesson we have goin’ on here, but, nevertheless, we’ve definitely purchased enough candy to get a nice cavity, at the very least.

There is even a lady out there known as “The Potty Whisperer” who can potty train your child in a day. Well, there is a fee, but hey. It’s an interesting concept and supposedly she has nearly five hundred “graduates!” I jotted down her number just in case.

The "bottom" (hee hee) line of all this potty talk is that there aren’t many adults walking around untrained, so don’t fret and sweat the small stuff. Potty training is just another season of mommyhood and this season too shall pass. My baby won’t start Kinder in diapers. She actually likes wearing the truck training pants that I grabbed because they were out of the pink butterfly ones the other day. We’ll try again next week. Or maybe the week after next. Well…sometime this year for sure!