Our potty training experience with Tyler has been challenging at best. Tyler is a stubborn boy and he does things his own way in his own time. Our first challenge was to wean him off of the diaper during the day. Tyler wanted none of it because it was much easier for him to go whenever he needed to. I was extremely frustrated because I knew he understood what he needed to do and was convinced he was having accidents on purpose so I'd put the diaper back on him. It was quite the battle of wills.
One day last spring Tyler had been testing my patience all day. Dan was out that night so it was just me. Eventually I put Tyler in time out because he wasn't listening, but also because I needed to step away. When his time was over I went into the kitchen and knew something was up when he said needed more time. It didn't take long to realize that he had an accident... both kinds. There was a puddle on the floor and his pants were hanging low. That put me over the edge so I went back into the living room telling Tyler he needed to stay in the kitchen. I left him there for about 10 minutes. I then stripped his clothes off of him and made him clean up his own mess before forcing him into the bath.
I felt like the worst mom in the world that night after putting Tyler to bed. But, since that day we've only had a few accidents during nap time. I guess sitting in his own mess was what Tyler needed.
Our next challenge has been to get Tyler to go standing up. Last spring he was doing so with no issues and had been for several weeks by the time we went to visit Aunt Sara in May. It was there that it became a problem. I didn't know it at the time, but I traumatized Tyler during that visit. I was in the bathroom while Tyler was using the potty. He started to spray the garbage can and I shrieked in surprise. Usually his aim was really good. As I was cleaning up I told Tyler that he needs to have better aim.
From then on Tyler would only use the potty sitting down. This isn't a big deal except when we're out. I'm told that sitting down in a mens bathroom is not a good idea and it's not ideal in most womens bathrooms either. After a month or so of Tyler refusing to go standing up Dan had a talk with him and Tyler finally admitted what the problem was. He told Dan that "Momma said I don't aim so good. I peed on Aunt Sara's garbage can." The poor kid! Once again, I feel like a terrible mom.
Since then we've tried everything to get him to try standing up again. I even tried bribing him with M&Ms. But, when that didn't work I ate the M&Ms myself. You can't let good chocolate go to waste!
Fast forward to tonight. Standing up to go potty has not been a topic in our house for months, but for some reason Tyler did it tonight totally on his own. He was so proud of himself. Dan and I were pretty excited as well. When the excitement settled down, Tyler came up to me and asked where the M&Ms were. Terrible mom strikes again! (It was almost as bad as the day Tyler found his artwork in the garbage... ugh) So I went to the candy bowl praying that there were some M&Ms left over from Halloween... no such luck. I grabbed some Hershey Kisses and asked Tyler if he would like some of those. He said no, he liked M&Ms. Go ahead and twist that knife a little bit more Ty... Dan was enjoying this immensely. Luckily we had some smarties and Tyler was happy with those. Phew! Crisis averted.
Here's Tyler with his reward. And tomorrow I'll be getting him some M&Ms too!
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