When I was pregnant with Spencer, Jessa was 18 months old-2 years old. I was in desperate panic mode to get her potty trained before he was born because apparently, it is bad to have "2 kids in diapers." Everyone said that, so I believed it to be true. Plus, my Mom was telling me things like "you were potty trained by the time you were 18 months old." So I was determined. I bought a small library of books to aid me and another small library of books to help her. I bought the Once Upon a Potty book, DVD, and doll with her own potty. I bought potty training Elmo. Mom bought a doll that could tee-tee. I had charts with stickers, jars of candy, several potty chairs, and even adapter seats for the big potty. I was prepared. And Jessa thought it was fun at first. She would sit on the potty and occasionally get lucky and actually tee-tee. Around her 2nd birthday, she was sort of with it. She was wearing pull ups, but there was nothing consistent about her potty habits.
Then Spencer was born. Then 11 days later, David come home from a year long deployment. Things were crazy, to say the least. She was not interested, and frankly, I did not have the time or energy to really work with her. Then a couple months later we moved. Now things were even less normal. Still, she was not interested. And much of it was her stubborn, hard head. Let me tell you what my princess would do. She wanted to wear all the pretty and cool big girl underwear. So she would have on underwear and realize she needed to potty. The child would walk all the way to her room and find a pull up. She would take off the underwear and put on the pull up! Many times, she would even take off the wet pull up and put her big girl underwear back on. The child got the concept, wouldn't you say? Shortly after her THIRD birthday, I lost it one day when she put on the pull-up and went to the bathroom to potty! While she was in there, I packed up all the pull-ups in the house and never looked back. She was not happy, but she quickly got with the program.
I know I let it go on longer than I should have, but I heard all these horror stories about kids being scarred for life, you know? I did not want her to have bathroom issues forever because I pressured her, right? And Jessa Lynn is one of the few people in the world who can actually control her bodily functions. She once told me that she did not want to potty until she got back to Louisiana. I explained that it was 8 or so hours away. She said that was fine. After many fruitless stops, we stopped at the Louisiana Welcome Center, and the child finally went. Iron will.
Then Spencer was born. Then 11 days later, David come home from a year long deployment. Things were crazy, to say the least. She was not interested, and frankly, I did not have the time or energy to really work with her. Then a couple months later we moved. Now things were even less normal. Still, she was not interested. And much of it was her stubborn, hard head. Let me tell you what my princess would do. She wanted to wear all the pretty and cool big girl underwear. So she would have on underwear and realize she needed to potty. The child would walk all the way to her room and find a pull up. She would take off the underwear and put on the pull up! Many times, she would even take off the wet pull up and put her big girl underwear back on. The child got the concept, wouldn't you say? Shortly after her THIRD birthday, I lost it one day when she put on the pull-up and went to the bathroom to potty! While she was in there, I packed up all the pull-ups in the house and never looked back. She was not happy, but she quickly got with the program.
I know I let it go on longer than I should have, but I heard all these horror stories about kids being scarred for life, you know? I did not want her to have bathroom issues forever because I pressured her, right? And Jessa Lynn is one of the few people in the world who can actually control her bodily functions. She once told me that she did not want to potty until she got back to Louisiana. I explained that it was 8 or so hours away. She said that was fine. After many fruitless stops, we stopped at the Louisiana Welcome Center, and the child finally went. Iron will.
Fast forward a couple of years. . . I was the most laid back, unconcerned mom about Spencer and potty training. Part of it was that I knew that being stressed did not help Jessa "get it" any faster, and the other part was the selfish part of me who was sad to no longer have a baby. He is the last one, so I did not want him to grow up too fast. I bought him some underwear 6 months or so to be prepared, but I never mentioned it. I also ordered the boy Once Upon a Potty to have just in case, but I was not pushing it.
Jessa was more concerned, and she tried to help him. She would put underwear on him, he would have an accident, I would clean it up. Yet I still was not worried.
Jessa was more concerned, and she tried to help him. She would put underwear on him, he would have an accident, I would clean it up. Yet I still was not worried.
(I always heard girls were SO much easier. I guess all girls do not have the contrary iron will that Jessa had!!)
I am not sure how it happened, but I think it started about the time he started to school here. They have a cool teeny potty in their bathroom connected to the classroom. His teacher just asks them pretty often, and the other kids went, so he went. It happened almost without my noticing. But after a few weeks, I realized that he had done all of his #2 in the potty. And then every time he would wake up, he would be dry. Every time he went to the potty, he would be dry.
Then over the weekend, I tried underwear during his awake hours. And WOW! He is so precious and so good! We went to a birthday party 45 minutes away, he made it (there and back). We went to the pumpkin patch, and he made it. It is hard for me to relax and believe it since Jessa's process was so different and so stressful. I am sure a lot of her problem was ME, and I was not the impediment to him that I was to her. Whatever the case, he is a big boy and I have no more babies! I am so proud of him, but it is a little bittersweet. Maybe not having to buy diapers/pull ups will ease the pain!!
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