Three Hours of Potty Training

Friday  in the early morning  Mystie

I have been debating with myself for a couple months about whether or not to try potty training Jaeger at an earlier age than three. Almost every morning he asks when he will get to wear underwear and says he’s a baby because he wears diapers. Well, Matt and I noticed that his size 5 diapers have been leaving marks along his legs, so although we haven’t had any leaking problems, he probably needs to move up to a size 6. I don’t want to move up a size and get fewer diapers for the same amount of money! If he’s big enough to wear a 6, maybe he is big enough to be potty trained. After all, for someone whose goal in life is to be like Hans, potty training should come earlier and easier, right?

So, earlier in the week we stopped at WalMart and purchased a potty seat (Hans trained on the real toilet, but I’m not doing that in this house with no toilet on the main level!), more underwear (size 4, same as Hans), a package of pull-ups, and some jelly beans.

We did the talking prep for a few days, then when I got him up on Thursday, I told him that today was the day he got to wear underwear. My goodness, was he excited! He kept repeating the phrase, “Like Hans wears! I’m like Hans!” We talked and talked about what we do and don’t do, we got out the little potty (he wanted to sit on the big toilet first, because that’s what Hans uses) and Jaeger was able to situate himself on it and did so willingly after Hans demonstrated the process for him, receiving jelly beans and all. They ate breakfast and had milk and water and then we went upstairs for circle time. We brought the little potty with us and Jaeger sat on it the entire 20 minutes with no results, but he earned 2 jelly beans for his patience.

Then downstairs we went again and the boys got apple juice. Ten minutes later I have Jaeger sit on the toilet. For almost 5 minute we wait to no end. More apple juice. 10 minutes later I have him sit on the toilet. We do “This Little Piggy” 20 million times and I trim both boys finger and toe nails. Nothing. We pull his underwear back up and the boys begin playing in the living room. 5-10 minutes later I check him and he’s sopping wet. The underwear caught it all, because there was nothing on the floor, but he was still happily playing and didn’t care one jot that he was wet. Hans never did either, and actually still doesn’t. Hans uses the bathroom because it’s what big boys do, not because he cares about whether or not his clothes are wet. So I didn’t give up hope. I had him sit on the potty again, but of course he was finished. I had him drink a pile more apple juice, and he happily complied. I cut Hans off from jelly beans for demonstrations, although his audience had not yet tired of his show. Jaeger remained fairly cheerful about it all; he was so proud to be wearing underwear and he really wanted jelly beans and so he sat for lengths of time on his little potty without complaining, but also without production.

Well, after this round of apple juice I did not replace his underwear. I thought that a little bare-bun exposure might help him realize what’s going on. We were coming up on 15 minutes, so I started making the noises and fuss about sitting on the potty now again, when I approached him playing and noted the puddle next to him. I was only sitting 3 feet away, crocheting, listening, and glancing up at them very frequently the whole time. He had made no peep, no surprised sound or motion, nothing; it had absolutely not phased him in the slightest. Even as I pointed it out to him, he still looked at me rather expectantly than remorsefully, like he had no idea what was wrong. It was only after I got the towel and cleaner and used the word “mess” that he said, “Oh, I sorry, Mom. I sorry.” So we went upstairs and I matter-of-factly told him that he wasn’t quite old enough for underwear yet and he was going to have to wear diapers instead. He spent a little energy trying to convince me he needed a pull-up, not a diaper, but a diaper he did wear. He was disappointed not to wear Hans’ underwear anymore, but I told him he would when he was three and he went about the rest of his day without mentioning underwear or the toilet again. When Daddy came home, Jaeger just looked up and said matter-of-factly, “I not old enough wear Hans’ underwear anymore.”

So, that experiment is over and I’m not terribly disappointed. :) I will stick to my resolve and wait for that third birthday. Hans never cared about being wet and even still, if put in a diaper will have no compunction about using it as a diaper, so our tact centers on expectations of a new age. “Three year olds know how to use the toilet” we told Hans for a month previous to his birthday. “Three year olds wear underwear and keep them dry.” And, sure enough, he was mostly potty-trained within a couple days because, well, he was three. So, I’m not going to give it another thought until April, when the prep-talking will begin again. Until then, I’ve got the supplies on hand and I need to go buy size 6 diapers.

This entry was posted on Friday, October 12th, 2007 at 7:05 am and is filed under Lady of the House, Mother. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.