The Potty Diaries (Part 1)

Disclaimer :: these posts will be long and detailed. It won't hurt my feelings if you have no interest in reading these details.

May 1, 2012 I decided would be the last day of diapers for Carson. Oh my, what was I thinking??? He’s 2 years and 2 months old. And his baby sister will be here in approximately 12 ½ weeks. I don’t want 2 in diapers, do I? All his friends are potty trained, aren’t they? If I wait, won’t he fall behind? Now that he’s talking, sleeping in a big boy bed, expressing his wants and needs, surely he’s ready, right?

It’s naptime on day 1. So far I have gone through countless Lysol wipes on and around the toilet bowl, Lysol floor cloths all over the house, and wet wipes for Carson. He has had 5 accidents…3 of which occurred before 9:30!! The other 2 were actually half accidents, because I caught him in the act and yelled “STOP!” and rushed him off to the potty where he finished.

We’ll start from the beginning.

I read this blog :: Potty Training in 1 Day. Last night, I went to Walmart to stock up on junk food, candy, chips, and lots of juice and fun drinks. I got Capri sun, chocolate milk, and apple juice for my son who usually only gets water and milk. I also got him cheese curls, twix, turtle chex mix, dill pickle chips, and so much more. These snacks had one purpose – to make him thirsty. And boy did it work!! I even let him have some of my cherry coke at one point. 

Since we would be eating junk all day, we started off the day with some fruit and multi-grain cheerios. Then we went into his bedroom where he threw all of his diapers away. We took off his last diaper and gave it to daddy to chunk! He had 17 new big boy underwear to choose from, with assortments including Thomas the train and Disney’s Cars. Of course he chose the choo choo ones. We put those on and headed straight for the potty (wondering why we had just put undies on to turn around and take them right off!) 

 Carson sat on the potty with some juice for a very short period and then wanted off. I let him get down, set the timer, and we decided to play. We got his mega blocks and camped out in the hallway right in front of the potty. About 10 minutes before the alarm went off (it had only been set for 20), he walked around to the other side of the blocks, squatted, and peed. Then he looked at me and said, “Help, mom!” It was so cute…how could I get upset? So I said, “Uh Oh!” and cleaned him and the floor up. 

We picked out another pair of undies, reset the timer for 20 (I thought surely it would be at least 20 more minutes before he was ready to tee tee again), and then got his puppy dog All Star to sit and tee tee on the potty. I used a medicine dropper loaded with water to make him go. Then All Star got a treat for being such a good dog! Carson seemed so excited. Before we got started, I had let him sample a treat so he would see just how good they were and what he would be working for :: skittles and jelly beans. Yum yum!!

We decided to color for a minute until the timer went off. I was grabbing the paper when I remembered to grab my phone from the bathroom so we would hear it. In the 5 seconds it took me to get to the bathroom for the phone, he had peed again!!! Heard the same little “Help mom!” from the bathroom. You have GOT TO BE kidding me!!! This time it was in the chair and splashed all over the floor.

Third pair of underwear for the day. Good thing I got 17! This time was no joke. He was GOING to pee on the potty. So we gathered all our drinks and headed for the bathroom. I sat him on the pot, determined that he not move until he peed. Afterall, he just went twice in a 30 minute time frame. So we sat. And we played games. And we counted. And we sang. After about 30 minutes, he asked to get down. I decided to give him a 5 minute break. I figured his butt had to be asleep if mine was.

Seriously folks, not a minute into this timed 5 minute break (this is not an exaggeration!) he was playing with his truck when I saw him squat and begin to pee again. That’s when I yelled “STOP!” and grabbed him and headed for the pot. I tried to snatch his undies off, threw him on the potty and made him finish there. There wasn’t much left. Most of it was on the floor. L I felt so defeated. Looked at the clock and it was only 9:20.

At this point in the morning I was about ready to throw in the towel. Maybe he’s too young. Maybe he just doesn’t get it. It’s not like he’s gonna go to kindergarten in diapers or pull ups. He’s only 2 years and 2 months, maybe he needs more time. All these thoughts were racing through my head as I was trying to stay pumped and motivated for my man. Tears were flowing down while I was trying to fake smiles and encourage my boy. He could see straight through me and kept asking with such concern, “oh-tay mom?” The sweetest boy ever, that Carson.

Immediately after cleaning up his third mess, I decided there was no more playing off the pot. I put him back on, and we camped there for the next hour. At approximately 10:40 a.m. we had success…MAJOR success! Numbers 1 AND 2! Yippeee!! This momma did the potty dance all over the house. And so did Carson. We flushed, washed our hands, and we both got a treat!! I was stoked! And this deserved a much needed break from the potty!

Over the next 2 hours, we had 2 more full successes and 2 more ½ successes. We also had lunch, cut way back on the juice intake, and prepped for nap. I laid puppy potty pads under his sheet so he wouldn’t see them and then laid him in the bed in his undies. We’ll see…I’m fully expecting an accident, and I’m okay with that. And if it doesn’t happen, I’ll be more than thrilled! As much as I don’t wanna, I’m forgoing my nap to shower and write this and be fully there when he wakes up to rush him in to potty if need be. Guess I’ll write again later about the afternoon.