Of Potty-Training, Second Edition

For those of you who have followed this blog for awhile, you know that potty training has been a harrowing experience for us.  When recently asked my one piece of parenting advice, it was this, "Never potty train.  Ever."

Now, I understand every child is different and I understand my little strong-willed child is the exception to the rule.  And she now wears underwear 24/7 and is content to approach her fourth birthday as a potty trained child.  Woohoo!

And since the last two and a half years were so rewarding and wonderful, we decided we'd jump right back into the world of potty training again (insert rolling of the eyes here).

Okay, truthfully, I could have happily waited until Emmett just up and got sick of his diaper and taught himself, but the poor kid has been showing signs of readiness - announcing when he's gone and asking to sit on the potty - for awhile now and I didn't really think it fair to ignore him just because his sister was a potty-training nightmare.

So we decided this nice three-day weekend would be the perfect time to devote to our middle child.  We sent sissy off to Mommy and Daddy's bedroom with the iPad (seriously, it's the best baby-sitter), tucked Joey in for his morning nap and showered Emmett in lemonade (we had crackers ready to provoke his little taste buds to drink more, but this kid needed no help - he, honestly, drank two quarts of lemonade today, including a full sippy before breakfast), raisins (for staying dry) and quality time.

He quickly learned it was good to stay dry (yay, raisins!) and sad to be wet.  He also learned his pee-pee goes in the potty.

Unfortunately, for some reason, he decided he hated going in the potty.  He cries every time.

Herein lies the problem.  He knows going in his pants is a bad idea.  So he doesn't do that.  But he's scared to go in the potty.  So he doesn't do that.  This leaves us with an awkwardly squirmy kid, crossing his legs and holding himself trying to keep it all in because he doesn't know where he does want to put it.  So then he sits on the potty and cries and cries until he just can't stand it any longer and it comes out.

Of course, once it's done, he's happy to have his marshmallows and the happy cheers of everyone around.  Just not happy enough to be excited to do it again.

Sigh.

Someday we'll have a happy little potty-trainer.  Someday.

1,000 Gifts:
819. Having just what someone needs when it's needed
820. Raisins and lemonade
821. A place for everything
822. A fear overcome

Whole 30 - Day 25
Breakfast - Scrambled Eggs, Fresh-Squeezed Orange Juice
Lunch - Leftover Butternut Squash Lasagna
Dinner - Leftover Chicken Parmesan

Worst Part of the Day: Realizing my husband and I were not on the same page regarding our goals for this program and our dreams of how we'll be eating afterward.  We're working on it.  (Also, rewarding a little guy with marshmallows while not sneaking a few ourselves.)

Best Part of the Day:  Being to the point where I don't really have to think very hard about what we'll be eating.  Eating this way is almost a habit now.