Pee pee? Ernie?
Potty training has begun. Or rather, a little over a week ago I allowed a potty and collection of Nathan’s favorite books to take up precious floor space in my postage stamp size bathroom and somehow it seems to be paying off. And Nathan’s more interested in watching Ernie sing “do de duck” than reading a book, so the books have moved back out, alleviating at least one tripping hazard.
We first started thinking about potty training about 5 months ago. (I promise this isn’t going to get icky – and come on, you used to read about breastfeeding and cloth diapers – but if you’re wondering why you’re still reading about bathroom skills, maybe you want to go check out Leah’s great narrative on children’s bibles – I promise, no bathroom talk in that post.) How do I know it was 5 months ago? Because at his 15 month checkup Nathan demonstrated his new found obsessed with sitting on chairs and desire to battle over every diaper change. Add to that his interested in the toilet and his pediatrician ask if we’d thought about potty training. Which we’d already been joking about. Too bad Nathan had hip surgery the next day. So, one hip surgery, six weeks of body cast, and two busy parents later, we’re finally getting around to it.
And wouldn’t you know, after the first day of getting to know the potty (which consisted of lifting out the clean bowl, climbing into the hole, standing there for a bit, and then climbing back out) Nathan now tells us when he has to pee (or agrees when we suggest it) toddles off to the bathroom, pees, gets the step stool (with help) and washes his hands (with help). Sure, it wasn’t like that from day two, he probably doesn’t do it for anyone else, and we haven’t tried a potty at someone else’s house, but it’s been pretty steady progress. And Nathan clearly knows what’s going on. Case in point:
On Monday morning, rather than fight him on putting a diaper back on after using the potty (we really need to invest in some training pants), I let Nathan play without a diaper on. In the next hour of playing he visit the bathroom a few times with no results (how’s that for a euphemism?). Then we went outside. While playing outside Nathan announced “peepee!” so I said we should go inside to use the potty. He thought about this for half a second, said NO, and sat down to pee in the driveway.
Like I said, progress – not perfection. At least he’s a kid who likes being outside.