Adventures in Potty Training: The Pee Pee Roller Coaster

Adventures in Potty Training!


Potty training is my nemesis. “Pull-ups” mock me with their empty promises and this Winnie the Pooh potty chair does nothing to encourage actual poo!

Kids will definitely “do it” when they are ready…and not a moment sooner!

Why is it, though, that it makes us, as parents, feel like a failure when we see other kids, younger kids, who are already potty trained? Parents will always tell other parents that “well, kids do it when they’re ready”, but are we not secretly thinking that they must not be working with their child correctly? Come on, be honest! You know you’ve had that thought when you see a kid wearing a diaper that is older than your already potty trained child!

Today my house is spotted with towels that have mopped up pee puddles and little pee foot prints. My daughter and I have begun the Pee Pee Roller Coaster!

My son, Caynin (who is 5 years old now), and I went through this same ritual 2 years ago. I started working with him when he was about two and a half and he would have NONE of it. At the time, I was 5 months pregnant and had at first thought it would be nice to have him out of diapers before the new baby came along. However, following many a pee-spotted frustrating day I quickly decided that he simply wasn’t ready and had a tiny fear that, even if we succeeded now, possibly he would default back after the new baby came for attention purposes! Eight months later, after Caynin’s sister, London, was born and he seemed to be acclimating well to her arrival in our family, we tried it again!

My methods changed on weekly basis over the following seven long, long months. We tried the sticker chart and using pull-ups with his favorite characters, we tried buying underwear and telling him Diego did not want to get wet, we tried the rubber underpants and the reward system, we tried the “make Elmo go potty” routine and all the DVD’s, and finally we tried buying a gumball machine and letting him put a penny in and get a gumball every time he used the potty like a big boy! That last one actually worked the best, but I’m not sure if it was because it was best method for him or because we had simply worked at it for so long! During those final weeks there was pee everywhere! He peed in his car seat so many times we finally quit washing it and just threw it away and got a new one and took the padding off! He peed in his bed at least 4 times per week, and peed in his pants in public so often that we carried complete changes of clothing in the diaper bag at all times! The final clincher, though, came not from me, the Mommy who had worked unerringly with him for so long while taking care of my newborn daughter, but from his Daddy! Peter promised Caynin one day that if he could go a whole week without an accident then they would camp out in the backyard, just them two! Bam! The week flew by and on Friday night, Peter spent three hours setting up the tent and getting snacks and fixing an extension cord so they could plug up a fan and bring out the laptop to watch movies. They stayed out there for all of two hours before Caynin lovingly looked at his Daddy and said, “Ok, I’m ready to go in and go to bed now!” But, hey, at least our potty problem had been mightily improved upon!

Now, two years later, I’m back at it again! I just knew London was going to catch on so much quicker because she learns so much from watching her big brother! She started telling me when she was 22 months old when she had pooped and could I please change her diaper? I told myself, Oh, it will be so much easier now because I know what it takes and I can do this and she will be ready! But, what was it I said earlier? Oh yes…

Kids will definitely “do it” when they are ready…and not a moment sooner!

London, my dear sweet smart little girl, just told me that she pooped in her diaper because she was tired of sitting on the potty. Of course! But three hours ago, she pooped in the potty and was so excited about it. Oh, the roller coaster these little ones put us on! When I step in pee for the seventh time in one day, it’s so hard not to lose my temper. I put on what I now call my “Duggar Smile” (inspired by 20,000 kids and counting Mom on TLC) and mop up the pee and try to ignore the fact that I have urine on the bottom of jeans legs and remind myself to wear shorts tomorrow.

With kids, it’s always about the goals your reaching for tomorrow. I must remind myself that this little person that God has entrusted into my care will grow and develop into exactly who He wants her to be. My job is to guide her along the way, and to be a positive example…even if that involves stepping in pee puddles and getting excited about poop when it lands in the potty and not in a diaper!

Tomorrow it starts all over again. I thought she would never learn to walk…but she did. I thought she would never talk in complete sentences, but she does. One day, I’m sure I’ll think, I don’t think she’ll ever learn to write her name, or ride a bike, or drive a car…but she will! My job is to teach her.

And, so tomorrow, I will wear shorts (and possibly roll up the rug!) and get ready to step in some pee as I guide my daughter one day at a time along this roller coaster of our lives together. Because, sometimes, you gotta step in a little pee to make it to the potty!