Semantics

I swore, swore to myself that I wouldn't force the potty training issue. Plenty of preschools these days don't require it, he didn't seem interested or ready, no need to rush.

Then I found a preschool I reaaaaallllly wanna go to. Er, I mean I want him to go to. And guess what they require?

So we've been pushing it a little. Stickers for every time you sit on the potty with your pants off, presents for every pee and poop (for the record, he got two presents for pee... but really we shouldn't have given them to him since both times he peed on the floor and not in the potty. But that's just semantics).

Yet you ask him if he wants to go on the potty, he thinks for a minute, furrows his brow, and then looks up at you and says "No thank you... I'll do that later." Later never comes, of course.

So finally I decided to give in and use food. Little marshmallows for pee, big ones for poop. Hooray... here I am setting up a lifelong history of Food Issues. We've been talking up the "mallows" for the last couple of days in preparation for this weekend.

At one point this afternoon I started to Smell It Coming. So I rushed him to the potty, tore off his pants and diaper, only to find it halfway out. OK fine let's just grab that part off and see if there's anything more.

Sit... sit...

tick, tock, tick, tock

OK I give up. <lift kid off seat AND SMEAR POOP ALL OVER SEAT>. He had major klingons.

Who needs toilet paper when you have a perfectly good toilet seat to use?

So he did not poop in the potty. He pooped while on the potty and he pooped on the potty.

But the boy got his big 'mallow and his present because well, he was so damned cute when he said "I'm going poop on the potty! This is FUN!".

Also, at one point today while I was changing Audrey's diaper, His Eloquence says to his little sister: "You sure do poop a lot. I'm making poopoo also!"

Ahhh yes. The poop blogs have started. Every parent of a toddler does it.

Comments

[Kristin]

Ahhhh, that is both full belly chortle hilarious and stomach churning disgusting all wrapped up into one. Keep at it. Don't go backwards. Let me know how it goes! And just think, one of these days he can stand at the upstairs railing, point his little wee wee through the railings and shout "Look mom! I peeing" ala his cousin. Thankfully the child has a good imagination so he wasn't *actually* peeing. Though I aged 5 years and wished for girls.

[Chris]

Sorry for the unsolicited potty stories but I've done it three times. The first one we waited till he was three, took him to visit the pre-school and told him he couldn't go until he used the toilet--took a week. The other two kids we told them they stopped making pullups and that when the last of the bag was gone they'd have to use the toilet. Then we put them in underwear and lived with the consequences. The girl trained in a day and the boy in a week.

I never had the patience for the food thing--I always ate all the m&m's or marshmallows before the kids even got up and it was time to try...

Good luck! :0)