Dear God, is it Already Day 5?!

I bought a book several months ago. "Potty Training in One Day". I read it front to back, reread the important chapters, and I was easily convinced that this method would work. I was on the bus one day when another woman, a mother herself probably, commented, "that's rather ambitious!" when she saw the title of the book I was reading. I thought, obviously, you haven't read this book. The author was completely convincing that this was a foolproof method. Basically, you and your child potty train a doll that is capable of going pee-pee on command. As the doll has accidents, you and your child explain to the doll that he needs to tell you when he needs to go to the potty. He shouldn't go in his underwear. You use a system of stickers and treats as rewards when the doll is successful. As you're doing all of this, your child is supposed to be picking up on the concept of going on the potty. All of the rewards gets them super excited and anxious to go on the potty too. As the day progresses, you give the child underwear and they start the process of potty training. Because they've taught the doll, they understand the concept, and its easy as pie to get them to hold their pee and go on the potty. Yeah, right! As I'm writing this, I'm laughing at myself for ever falling for this crap. I've always known I was gullible. But seriously, I can't believe I didn't know better.

So, here we are. Day 5. I guess we're still seeing small improvements. Yesterday afternoon, I decided that Peyton and I needed to get out of the house. We went strawberry picking (which was a hoot, Peyton loved eating more strawberries than he put in his bucket), and we were probably gone for about an hour and a half. I was pretty impressed that Peyton was still dry as I was getting him out of the car. As we were entering the house, I noticed him start to grab his crotch and took this as a sure sign that he needed to pee. I hurried as fast as I could to the bathroom, but before I knew it, there was a puddle on the floor in the hallway just outside the bathroom. So close! A little later as he and his Daddy were watching 101 Dalmations, he confessed that he had an accident. I thought this was promising because he at least told Patrick that he'd gone in his pants. I was cautiously optimistic.

Today, a babysitter came by the house to stay with Peyton while I went to work. (Mrs. Lauren is away this week.) We started setting the timer for longer periods of time, and the report from the sitter was that he told her when he needed to poop, as he did for Patrick yesterday. So this was a really good sign. He seems to have the hang of pooping. She also reported that he only had one accident that morning. I asked if he told her or if she just noticed it on her own and it turns out that Peyton peed in his pants, said nothing, and continued to play with his trucks. Ok, he had the afternoon to redeem himself. When he got up from his nap, I took him to play at a neighbor's house, who coincidentally is also potty training her daughter, so we commiserated together and offered each other some moral support. He did pretty good while he was at Kalina's house, going to the potty twice with about an hour in between. The difficult part was getting him to take a brake from playing with all of the cool toys to try to potty. Once home, however, we started having a little trouble. He was difficult all through dinner, which ended abruptly after he started throwing his food. He continued to be whiny and cross (probably because all he'd eaten was a little bit of rice for dinner), and all of a sudden peed all over himself. This seemed to upset him even further. This may sound harsh, but I was actually quite pleased that he got upset that he peed on himself. It contrasts with the morning accident where he was perfectly content to wear wet underwear. My hope is that the accidents will become less frequent if they upset him.

So, tomorrow we enter day 6. I don't think there is any turning back now. We have a big morning planned: a gymboree class and then lunch with my lab on Franklin street. I plan to have a bag packed with clean underwear and clothes, probably several sets, because I'm bracing myself for the worst. This could turn into a disaster.

I realize these posts are getting longer and longer, but this is quite therapeutic for me.