Pages

Thursday, May 04, 2017

Potty training...again

Remember that one time I potty trained Benjamin and it took like four years? Because we'd started with elimination communication with him when he was tiny—which had worked great with both his older sisters, but not so well with him—and then just kept trying everything. And I kept being like, "Okay, now he's potty trained." And then I'd be like, "This time for realsies." And then I'd be like, "By Jove! I think he's got it!"

But then, inevitably he'd start a pooping-in-his-pants streak or a wet-the-bed-five-times-a-night streak or a what-is-this-toilet-you-speak-of streak.

Even now I'm like, "Is he potty trained? Really?"

I'm totally afraid to call it because I know I'll jinx it.

Getting that child to use the toilet was such a full time job when Zoë was little that we didn't really do elimination communication with Zoë. Benjamin was such a problematic potty-goer that I couldn't waste any effort looking for newborn potty signals. So Zoë's just been in diapers, which is...fine. It's not my preference, but it's fine.

She's on her second full day of underwear today, though, and...she did amazingly well. Like, I'm basically in shock because...what? I guess after the Benjamin fiasco I was expecting a living nightmare for the next however long (months...years?).

Zoë had one accident today. One. The whole day long.


I was rather nervous about taking her to the school today to volunteer and debated whether or not to put her in a diaper. In the end I settled on thick underwear and a diaper cover. We visited the toilet probably seven times in the 2.5 hours we were at the school—she went once. No accidents!

I took her to relief society this evening (we were gone about 2 hours) and she did so great. We visited the toilet three times—she went once. No accidents!

She played outside with her brother and sisters. No accidents.

She sat through breakfast, lunch, and dinner. No accidents.

The one accident she did have was at home in the middle of the afternoon. She pooped her pants. But we can work with that.

I'm sure not every day will be this successful but, uh, I'm feeling pretty good about day #2 of potty training. Because let me tell you how day #2 (or month #2, or year #2) of potty training went with Benjamin: bad. It was so bad. I still wouldn't say he's great (I still have to harp at him about following his body's signals and getting to the toilet). But Zoë was great today, so even if tomorrow goes horribly, horribly wrong, I'll happily bask in the greatness of today

4 comments:

  1. I recently read an article about the negative consequences of potty training too early. Have you noticed any in your own kids with whom you were successful doing EC?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Not at all. I've read similar articles (holding problems leading to chronic UTIs, for example) but we've not had those problems over here. And I know people who haven't potty trained early...but whose children DO experience frequent UTIs (so what do urologists blame that on, then?)

      EC, done properly, will allow a child to relieve themselves whenever they need to. And allowing children to wallow endlessly in diapers is, from my observation, rather a cultural thing.

      Delete