On Potty Training

Before I begin, I should really preface this entire post by saying that if you came here looking for the "TOP 10 TRICKS TO GET YOUR CHILD POTTY TRAINED", this aint it, sis. This is simply one mom writing about the single biggest challenge in toddler life at the moment - Potty Training.

Every parent has been there. The time has come to ditch the diapers, pull up the potty and get our kids ready for the next stage. 

Six years ago, my oldest gave me the unearned confidence of a mother killing the game. At 17-months-old, he walked into the bathroom, said "potty" once and never looked back. He went cold turkey into his big boy underwear and with just a few small accidents, was by-and-large immediately successful. By 18-months-old, he was overnight trained, the pull-ups were in the trash, and I walked around with my head held high wondering why potty training seemed so hard for some people. 

Fast forward to my youngest. Granted, his epilepsy and developmental language delays make the whole process significantly harder, but here we are at 4-and-a-half still peeing all over the house. We've tried every method - the 3-day-Potty Training, having him walk around completely naked, potty timers, potty watches, songs, books, you-name-it - and he's just uninterested. He's not averse to the toilet, just apathetic to the whole process. And truthfully, I'm not 100% convinced he's fully aware of when he needs to go all the time. 

Funnily enough, getting number 2 in the toilet has been the easy one this go-around. We've got about a 95% success rate on that one, and I don't take that small blessing lightly. Wiping butts at 4 is a whole different ballgame than that of a younger child. But peeing on the potty - well it's still an elusive goal over here. 

With his fifth birthday just around the corner, I've begun enlisting the advice and support of a number of therapists, and we're going to start working more intensively on this goal to get him ready for kindergarten next year - whatever it is that that looks like. 

I have to keep reminding myself that there are things that I wasn't sure he'd ever do - walk, say my name, introduce himself - and while it's taken him more time than most, he's always eventually gotten there when the time was right for him.

But in the meantime, here I am in the trenches of toilet training. Feel free to send prayers... and maybe snacks - I might be here awhile.