Potty Training: At the Beginning Again

Back in January, T and I decided to start potty training with Tiny. Initially, I wasn’t too structured in my approach, but after talking with another MOT friend, I decided to try the 3-Day Potty Training method. We didn’t exactly follow the plan to a T, but it worked amazingly well. It worked so well, that we decided to try the same approach with Buba the following weekend. But the exact same approach did not equal fast and easy potty training for Buba, and we actually decided (at the end of day 2) to throw in the towel and try again later.

It is now three months later. For three months, Buba has been watching Tiny use the potty. He talks about the potty. Tells us all about what it’s for. And recently has started asking for some “big girl panties”. So we decided to try the potty training again now that  T is home on spring vacation. I’ll admit right now that T was more gung-ho about it than I was. There was some hesitation in me, not as convinced about Buba’s readiness as I was when we started with Tiny.

We had planned to start the potty training on Saturday, but on Friday, I ended up being home with the kids for most of the day, so I figured why not just give it a go now. I took off Buba’s diaper, gave him a big sippy cup of water, and just waited for the teaching moments to begin. We certainly were not accident free, but Buba completely surprised me with how successful he was.

Day two started off with a big, wet accident, but after that, we were good. And day three went really well too. But now we’re on day four, and today hasn’t gone well at all. Only one success mid-morning and several changes of underwear. Grrrrrr.

I know that Buab is still very young (some might say too young), but I really don’t want to give it up just yet. As frustrating as today has been, I’m just so worried that it will be even harder down the road. T and I have talked about it, and together we decided that we’ve definitely been way more lax this time, and we probably have not been attentive enough today. We’ll go back to those strategies that worked in those initial days and see what a few more days of practice might bring. If Buba continues to do this well or better, I think I’ll be able to keep the training efforts going even after T’s spring break is over. But if it doesn’t work out, I know I’ll have no trouble admitting that this just isn’t his time. So, for now, it’s just a wait-and-see kind of thing.