The Potty Diaries (Part 3)

In case you missed it :: Part 1 and Part 2 and Potty Training in 1 Day

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

Well, the last line in my previous post was “Take it from me, it can be done!”…oh boy, oh boy. Let’s recap. Day 1 – totally stressed and ready to give up. Day 2 – took a break from all the juice, but stayed in undies until early evening and went potty when needed. Day 3 – a picture perfect day, wondered if I had a miracle child. Days 4 and 5 – had one accident each day, but no biggie…cleaned them up and kept going, dry the remainder of the day.

Day 6 – Sunday – went to church in underwear, picked him up and he was still dry! Yay! However…the teacher said he refused to potty for her. So I tried to take him, but he refused for me, too. Since we were headed to MeMe and Big Daddy’s house for the afternoon, I asked if he wanted to potty or put on a diaper. He chose the diaper. He refused to potty and wore a diaper the rest of the day. I felt like I had failed, but I chose to focus on tomorrow being another day. We’d start again.

Day 7 – Monday – we got up with the full intentions of wearing undies, staying home, and pottying all day long. By 10 a.m. he had made the conscious choice twice to tee tee on the floor instead of the potty. (And I say conscious choice because he would say he needed to tee tee, then get on the potty, refuse to go and cry and get off, then 5 minutes later would pee on the floor. Sure, that was probably my fault for not forcing him to stay on the pot, but with everything I’ve read, I felt it was more appropriate to let him lead and not force the issue…I don’t want to traumatize him over the toilet!)

But after the 2^nd accident, I gave him the choice of diaper or potty. He chose diaper. I decided at that point that we would wait 3-4 weeks before trying this again. He’s obviously not ready. And since I can’t actively control his bladder, I’m not gonna continue this battle of wills, because in this scenario, he’ll win every time.

THEN – after I’d decided to give up – THEN – when it was time to take a bath – THEN he decides he wants to tee tee on the potty. I asked if he was sure. I had a feeling it was a stall tactic (amazing how they figure those out at 2!) Alas, I took his diaper off and set him on the potty. He wanted to read and play with books, so we did…this was the longest he’d sat for 2 days. After about 5 minutes, he pooped!!! YAY!! And tee teed! Double YAY!!!

And after bath and struggling with bedtime for about 30 minutes (thanks to a 3 ½ hour nap), he says he needs to tee tee again. Stall tactic? Surely it was. But nope! He did it again, immediately after sitting down!!!

So now. I’m totally at a loss for what to do. Is he ready or not? Do I keep trying or not? Diapers or underwear? What to do, what to do? Any advice from moms who’ve been there would be greatly appreciated!!!