I am officially in potty training hell. My 3 year old, The Destroyer, absolutely refuses to use the potty. I know, I know, I should wait until he’s “ready”, but he’s 3 and he needs to start nursery school in September where he must at least be in a pull-up working on using the potty. Oh and did I mention the nursery school will NOT deal with poop. If he poops, someone has to come down and change him. UGH!. A few months ago, I was ecstatic when he told me he wanted to wear underwear. I thought, “Great! No pull-ups. Let’s go cold turkey.” He peed his pants once and that was the end of the underwear. He now screams bloody murder every time we try to put them on him. Seriously. I’ve tried everything - potty books, the potty seat, the bells & whistles potty, the reward bag, having CheezWaster (Who is the most supportive big brother EVER) go to the potty with him, having him watch CheezWaster use the potty and still my stubborn little boy does not want to pee anywhere but a diaper. This week, there has been a slight glimmer of hope. We found this book at the library called “Once Upon a Potty”. On one of the pages, it tells you how different parts of the body, including the penis and butthole, are useful - eyes for seeing, ears for hearing, etc. He loved that it showed a butt with a hole and described that your poop comes out the hole in your butt. And when I say loved it, I mean finds it so hilarious that it is really the only reason he likes this book. But, he will sit and read the whole things which talks about the potty, so if potty humor is going to do it, well then so be it. I also got him to sit on the potty last night. We have this potty from CheezWaster, who incidentally never used it as a potty (he was awesome and went straight to the regular toilet). It sings a song when the pee or poop triggers the sensor. It also does some other neat sounds, like the toilet paper roll sound and sings some other songs about the potty. I was hesitant to bust this out since CheezWaster only used it to play and hear the songs, but, The Destroyer just doesn’t want to sit on the real toilet at this point. So, last night he sat and sat and sat…..for a good 10 or 15 minutes. He didn’t pee, but at least we got him to sit. I’m taking this slowly since he seems traumatized by it already. So, again tonight, we will try to sit and maybe even pee this time. And when it gets a bit warmer in NJ, there going to be a lot of naked Destroyer butt running around.
FYI - This is the next potty book I’m going to pick up. The boys love Leslie Patricelli’s books and the Destroyer particularly likes the funny scenes involving this baby (like the don’t beat up your brother with your toys scene in No No Yes Yes).
Oh and if you’ve got some good tips - I’m all ears!!!