Adventures in Potty Training

Potty training Isaac has taken sort of a backseat the last little while, what with having three extra little girls running around the house most every day. Every once and a while, though, I give it a shot- just on the off chance that something might happen. Last night, he actually peed on the potty! Gasp! We had a little dance party, sang a little song, and it was wonderful. This gave me hope, and I decided to try again today.

So, after we got home from church today, I plopped him down on the potty. It took him a couple of minutes last time- I don’t know, mabye he gets stage fright or something, so I let him have his pacifier (“pacie”) and a comb (he likes to come his hair). He sat their for a few minutes, and I left the room to give him a little privacy. Then I heard a sound that no mother likes to hear…”uh-oh” and the toilet flushed. If you have a toddler, know a toddler, or have ever come into contact with a toddler, you know that the word “uh-oh” almost never means anything good…especially when followed immediately by the sound of the toilet flushing. I probably should have seen it coming, given the fact that he’s already flushed one or two things down the toilet, with disastrous and smelly results that need not be relived here. I went into the bathroom to find a very sad little boy with lip stuck out a mile who said “Mommy, I drop it my pacie in a toy-lit…” Yup…his one and only pacifier gone for good. Now, he’s two years old- and probably shouldn’t really need a pacifier any more. I did, in fact, even have him almost finished with it at one point, until he bit one of the little girls I babysit. I started giving it back to him then, because with that in there, he wouldn’t be as likely to bite. Anyway- I saw this as a good opportunity to teach him a lesson (“Take better care of your things, son”) and to get him off the infernal pacie.

After an hour or two of “I want it my pacie, I need it my pacie, my pacie in a toy-lit,” he seemed to give up, and forget about it. I put him to bed (which worked suprisingly well sans-pacification device) and went downstairs to hang out with Micah. About an hour later, after putting Micah to bed as well, I heard him crying in his room. When I went in to see to him, he said “Mommy, I want go potty,” Yay! Joy, elation! Potty training success is, after all, measured when he can actually get up in the middle of the night to pee. I gleefully took him into the bathroom, and plopped him on the toilet. He looked down at the water, stuck his lip out and with the most heartbroken sadness in his voice and tears in his eyes cried “Oh Mommy, I drop it pacie in a toy-lit.” Yeah- I’m probably going to cave and get him another one.