The good, the bad, the ugly... Potty Training!

For about a year now I have been taking notes every time one of my friends blogs, talks, or facebooks about potty training. I knew I needed to have a game plan so that I would know how to make this transition as easy as possible for Isaac, not to mention Shaun and me. Because Parker came right when Isaac turned two and we always have so many activities during the school year, I set the potty training goal for June. I told myself that I wasn’t going to feel rushed about this process or anxious that some of Isaac’s little friends were already out of diapers… I wanted the time to be right and I figured the older Isaac was, the smoother it would go.



My plan was to start tomorrow afternoon. Shaun would be working but would be home Monday morning and could take over. I wanted to have a good 3 or 4 days of NOTHING going on so that we could just stay home. You’re never really ready for something like this, but I felt like I had a good handle on what was about to happen.


That’s when Shaun stepped in…



Now, I’m not husband bashing, I’m just giving the facts of what happened…



Yesterday morning I had an end of the year Mops brunch, which means Shaun had the boys. Shaun told me that he was going to take Isaac to the store to get underwear. I didn’t think that it was a good idea because if we weren’t starting the big boy potty ‘til Sunday I didn’t want Isaac to get excited about the underwear and then not be able to wear them right away. I told Shaun to just go to the library instead because his books were due. Well, on my way to my brunch Shaun texted me and told me that they were on their way to Wal-Mart to get super hero undies. Then, a little later when I was on my way home, he informed me that Isaac had already peed in his Spiderman undies. Great! I’m really thrilled at this point. I’ve done all the research and have a plan of attack and now it’s all gone down the drain... Shaun started potty training without my expertise. ;) I finally get home to find Isaac running around the house naked because Shaun decided to wash all the underwear. Apparently Isaac told him they were a little itchy. While Isaac is loving his new found freedom, I am questioning his daddy on, “What in the world were you thinking?” No turning back at this point… It was going to be a looooong day. Isaac had some frustrating moments and would ask us to put his diaper back on him but overall he did amazing. He willingly sat on the potty when we asked and at times would run and sit on it without being asked. When he woke up from his nap (in a pull up) he was wet. We weren’t surprised though. He had another accident in his bed but that one was our (daddy’s) fault. He hit Parker with a ball so we put him in time out, where he ended up peeing all over his sheets. We were loading him with liquids but he was doing a really good job of holding it in. We tried moving his little potty all over the house just hoping we could find a spot that would make him comfortable. I remembered that every time he goes #2, he runs to his clubhouse and closes the door. It must be his safe place. So, we put the potty in there. Sure enough, he went #1 and #2 and was so proud of himself. SUCCESS! He was finally getting it!



This morning rolled around and I had to be gone all day in Palm Springs (which is another BIG reason I didn’t want to start until tomorrow). Shaun was not only on potty training duty, but also on “My name is Parker and I don’t take bottles” duty. I have never left Parker for more than four hours due to this reason. I wanted the day to go well so that I could enjoy myself and not have to worry about what was going on at home but, secretly, I was hoping it would be chaotic so Shaun would regret his decision. Because Shaun is so wonderful and a human super hero himself, the day was perfect. Parker ate all his baby food and drank all his milk from a sippy cup and Isaac peed in the potty. Not even one accident. Out of the five times he went today, three of them were on his own too. But wait, it gets better… Shaun told me that when he came back down stairs from putting Parker down for a nap, Isaac had peed in his potty, taken the little cup to the bathroom, poured it into the big potty, and then flushed it! WOW! By the end of the day Isaac was going on his own… No problem!



Here I was with this great detailed plan, trying to figure out each and every step, when all of a sudden, Shaun swoops in without a care in the world… AND it worked. Shaun did admit that he let his excitement take over and that he should have approached this with a little more thought. Thankfully, for the sake of our marriage, we have a very smart, fast learning boy! Well, we’ll see how church goes in the morning…

Toy Story underwear (from the Disney pack)

Mr. Monkey trying to convince Isaac to go pee. Just so you know... Isaac is wearing a Buzz Lightyear helmet. NOT the bag that the blocks go in.

This time in daddy's dirt bike goggles...

Clubhouse success!

(do you think he's going to kill me later on for putting these pictures on the blog?)