3 day potty training: day 1

since i now have the time to dedicate to potty training before i go back to teaching next month, i thought we'd try the 3 day potty training method. my son will be 2 next week, which apparently is the perfect time to try this method! this, and the following two posts will be my honest and full account of what's going on during these very trying days.

day 1

k woke up at about 8. for the past couple days we have been talking about big boy underpants, and how to keep them dry. he has been throwing his own diapers away because they're "stinky" or "peeeew." and he's so cute when he says that! so this morning we threw away the diapers that were left, and the pull-ups. this meant there was no turning back! we put on a fancy pair of buzz lightyear underpants, and so began our potty training journey!

after breakfast he started to pee in the kitchen...of course right after i asked if he had to go and he said no. i told him to let me know when he had to potty. he said ok...and then peed. i scooped him up and ran to the bathroom with him. now to understand what happened next, you have to also understand the layout of my bathroom. it is quite narrow. the door opens to the left, and just out of reach of the door on the right is the sink, and on the door is not a regular knob...it is a handle. i am not a thin girl, so to get to the toilet, which of course is all the way in back of the bathroom, many times i have to go in sideways because the area is so narrow until you get past the door and in front of the sink. in my rush to get the poor kid to the potty, i neglected to do this. as i ran in holding him in front of me, my belt loop got caught on the door handle pulling me backward (with a peeing child in my hands, mind you), and causing me to back up and free my pants from the door before making it to the potty. needless to say, we didn't make it. we cleaned up and put on a new pair of underpants. lightning mcqueen this time.

the remainder of the morning was fairly uneventful. a couple accidents here and there, but a few times, we did actually make it to the potty to finish! YAY! many times we did not, but that's ok! we're both just learning. k laid down for his nap after lunch and woke up dry. WOO HOO! after nap is when things got hairy. by then it was about 3:00. up until then, we had gone through 5 pairs of underpants. from 4-4:30, we went through the remaining 5 pairs i had prewashed. why? because he would start to pee, we'd get to the potty, he'd finish, and we'd put on a clean pair...only to have him walk out of the bathroom and pee all over because apparently he wasn't finished. so we'd go back to the bathroom, finish...again, WAIT a couple minutes to make sure, change the underpants, he'd walk out and pee...you get the picture? 5 times! at this point, i give up! his legs smell like pee because there are only so many times you can wipe it before the smell just gets stuck. and maybe they didn't stink...perhaps i imagined it. at any rate, i decided it was bath time. we waited until daddy got home so he could run into the basement to get a pair of underpants out of an unwashed package. i managed to throw in the wash the pairs he had wet, in addition to the remaining unwashed pairs, since this was clearly not going to go as smoothly as i had thought. then from dinner around 6, until bedtime at 8, we went through another 6 pairs...not including the one he's sleeping in.

lost to the 3 day potty training method day 1...17 pairs of underwear, my sanity, his patience, and many tears, both mine and his. at this point, potty training=1, mom=0.

the saving grace is that now when he starts to pee, he says "uh-oh" and runs to the bathroom...at least that's what he did before daddy got home. when daddy is home, he cannot be away from him for a minute! we shall see what tomorrow brings! this was described once as 3 days of hell with a great turnout. i hope so! i don't think it's just going to take 3 days at this rate, but again...we shall see what tomorrow brings.