Ready for the Potty – Mommy Blogger

03/15/2018

Elyse Lalonde has always called Saskatoon home. She started on the motherhood journey in the Summer of 2015 when she had her son. Elyse is a working mom, always seeking a fine balance in life with a busy toddler. As a Mommy Connections “alumnus,” she enjoys socializing with moms and babies her son’s age. Elyse has always enjoyed writing and journaling, and hopes to share her experiences (good, bad, and sarcastic) with the online parenting community in Saskatoon.

I am not ready for Potty Training. Out of pure laziness. And it shows.

My son will be three years old this summer. And as chance would have it, he sort of started potty training himself in the fall, for going number two. This is good news, right? One day I happen to catch him looking uncomfortable, and it had been a few days since his last movement, so I thought, what the heck let’s give it a go, and sat him on the toilet (with a shiny, new and blue pre-purchased toddler toilet seat). And lo and behold: it worked. The big one was in the bag (can, in this case), which I’ve been told is the hardest part of training. For us it turned out to be the easiest part. As for the usual number one routine? We are close, but no cigar.

If I were to hazard a guess of his potty-training completion, I would say my son is about 75% of the way there. But this does not include nighttime potty-training… That just seems like an unachievable dream at this point in time. It’s like you’re looking at a horse and hoping it will turn into a unicorn: after all that wishful thinking, it still neighs and looks brown.

Why haven’t we pulled the trigger to potty train “all the way”? Well, we have a trip planned in April… and this trip involves an airplane, which will be our son’s first time flying. Would I be willing or eager to have him regress in an uncomfortable way for a few days? Make a mess and feel embarrassed and have to accommodate an accident in the tiny, smelly, disgusting airport or airplane bathroom stall? Not a chance. Diapers: now there is something that is consistent, easy, reliable, and (relatively) mess free. Unlike my toddler.

I truly believed that one day, my son would come to me and say “ok mom, I’m going to start peeing in the potty today.” And I would’ve been like “great son! Let’s get rid of these diapers and an expense we no longer need!” and everything would be honky dory. Alas, this is not to be.

Is he going pee on the cute little kid potties at daycare? Yes, often. Are we “trying” to get him to pee on the potty at home? Yes, but not consistently. Is he probably ready and we’re not pushing the matter? Yes, probably. I believe we will need to take on a long weekend where we feed him copious amounts of juice and have him run naked through the house and cover everything in plastic so he can at least learn to figure out this bodily function of his. Not to mention bribing him with fun cartoon character undies… I just haven’t yet pulled this trigger. Mostly because I forget about potty training when I’m with him, when I should potentially be reinforcing it.

I know that it is the end goal, but right now it feels very time consuming, when I would rather spend time hanging out with him, holding on to the last little shred I have left of him that is baby-ish: comforting, dependable size 5 Huggies.

All in all, every child is different and learns at different ages and phases of their early life (my mother-in-law had mentioned that she had her kids potty-trained before the age of 2. I call nuts to that.)

I want to respect where my son is at in his development, and I will follow his lead as best I can. Worst case scenario, he figures it out by the time he goes to school: ideally, by the time he graduates.