There's Hope Yet

Eli is almost 2 years and 8 months old now. Thoughts of potty training dance through a parent's head once every child is about to turn 2. You start to ask yourself certain questions. "Is my child showing signs of readiness?" "Does my child care if he is sitting in a dirty diaper?" "Does my child understand the feeling of 'having to go'?" We have been asking ourselves these questions since Eli turned 2....and the answers have always been a definitive, "NO!" He never complained about a heavy, wet diaper. He would deny that he pooped (despite the smell coming from his bottom). We had 2 failed attempts before now to see if he was ready. During those 2 times, he would just pee all over himself and not say anything. We would find him wet and he would look at us with an inquisitive look and say, "Wha' happened?" He just didn't understand the feeling of "having to go." I really didn't care if he was potty trained back then because the new baby was arriving and I had bigger things to deal with. Plus, I always heard that boys tend to potty train later than girls do, so I wasn't really concerned. Unfortunately, my parents kept pressuring us about the situation.

I mean, c'mon--Elina was potty trained when she was 22 months old. She was one of those rare kids who picked it up in a weekend. After a few days of laundry and steam cleaning, she got it. We were really lucky. So, Eli has been a challenge in this department, but we really haven't had time to mind all that much. There are random days where he'll say he has to go potty and we'll put him on the potty. 95% of the time nothing comes out, but there have been a handful of times when drops of pee actually came out. We would cheer for him and give him a treat, but he wouldn't do anything more after that. And we didn't really mind because we didn't have the time to keep up with anything at this point.

Now we are visiting my parents for a while and none of us have been giving Eli's potty training any thought. Then one day, out of the blue, Eli said, "I go potty!" We put him on the toilet and he really peed! Usually he would just have a few drops of pee, but this time it was a lot. We were so proud of him! So we decided to let him strut around the house sans pants and diapers while we're at my parents' house since they have hardwood floors on the entire 1st floor. It has totally been working! Now that he's half-naked, he's more aware of what will happen if he doesn't have a diaper on and if doesn't sit on the potty. The only thing he requires is privacy when he goes potty. He gets nervous when all of us crowd around him as if we were watching a show. We only did this because we were so excited for him, but now we've learned to step out of the bathroom so he can take care of his business. Once he finishes, he yells, "I did it!"

Pee doesn't always come out when he asks to go potty, but he's only had 1 accident while being half-naked since we've started. He had this accident because he was too busy watching a TV show. He tried to run to the bathroom and didn't quite make it. Then, instead of getting help, he got baby wipes and tissues to wipe it up himself. What a sweetheart, right? The 1st day he wouldn't poop in the potty, even though we could tell he really wanted to. When we put a diaper on him for naptime that day, he immediately pooped in the diaper. But then the next day, he actually pooped in the potty without any problems! He sat there and when he was done he said, "Whoa, big one!"

After Eli goes potty, J cheers him on with a "Hip Hip Hooray" song. It goes--
Hip hip hooray!
Hip hip hooray!
Eli went potty today!
Yay!
Here he is singing it on his own--


So lately, we've been taking lots of pictures of Eli in his bare bum. I just love little bare bums! (FYI, that's supposed to sound cute, not creepy.)

We're definitely not out of the woods yet. Eli seems to forget about using the potty when we put on his pants, but at least we're on the right track now. Go, Eli!