So I've lost track of how many days since we began potty training and I certainly don't intend to count them up right now. Suffice it to say, we are not done. Making progress slowly but surely. Thus far we have gotten to the point where if we get him to the potty on a regular basis (anywhere between 30-90 minutes depending on fluid intake/time of day) we can generally avoid having to clean the carpet. (BTW in case you didn't already know, spraying a little vinegar/water solution on the spot after rinsing/blotting it with water takes care of the smell and kills the bacteria. Carpet cleaner is preferable for removing stains that may be left but I usually will only use that on old stains when he is napping as I don't like using it in the middle of wherever he is playing right then.) Unless of course he is wearing a diaper and it is 9pm and he is in bed "supposed" to be going to sleep. Then he will let us know multiple times that he needs to go potty and will happily sit on the potty and try for as long as we will let him. Today however, he jumped up from playing with his Duplo train and announced that he needed to go potty as he headed for the bathroom, ended up taking care of #2! I was so happy! Then 45 minutes later I caught him pooping again--this time in his underwear behind the armchair in the living room. Oh well, I am thankful for the one little step of progress today.
Of course I read the various blogs on potty training in one day, or three days, etc., but I have realized when it comes right down to it, it depends a lot on the child. Yes, a lot depends on Mama but just as much depends on the child. For example, I remember when my youngest brother (who had refused to potty train for months on end) turned 3, Mom put underwear on him and the first time he felt something running down his leg it terrified him so badly that he always got himself to the potty after that---he was the baby who fussed if the lid was off the milk jug and if his fingers were dirty. Now, I know every kid has different levels of dislike of dirt, mine is not quite like that but he does hate having dirty fingers; although he has no compunctions about getting them dirty! But I really thought that Small Boy doing things like taking his diaper off to pee on the living room floor (and it wasn't just one spot so that was not fun) and wanting to try the big boy potty and yanking on his diaper/fussing when it was wet were good signs. Not so much--the other day he stood next to his potty in the bathroom and peed in his underwear...again. There was also the recent occurence in which he stood on his potty with the lid closed and peed while brushing his teeth then said "Mama, water!" as he pointed at the puddle on the floor!
So to all of you in your third or fifth or tenth or more week of potty training, don't give up! Some children just don't mind making a mess, and have to be trained that those sorts of messes are not okay! That is why it is called potty TRAINING! Pardon the overabundance of exclamation points. And maybe I should add---it's been a few days since I started the first paragraph in this post and he hasn't announced the need to potty again, except for once when he was in the tub and needed to go #2---ya I was glad he didn't do that in the tub! In fact yesterday, he sneaked very quietly out on the deck to pee. Thank goodness the neighbor below us was not on his porch!!!
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