The Thrill of Success
On our week-long trip to stay with relatives in Southern California, potty training went better than anyone could have hoped. My toddler still regularly poops in his underpants (I’d say about 25% of the time). I wash his poopy underpants with his baby sister’s cloth diapers. We bought pull-ups for the trip, but decided not to use them until he actually pooped in his underpants. One week later, he was still in underpants. He only pooped in the potty! We did bring our new favorite
Baby Bjorn potty with us. My
previous favorite is now just a bit small for him. My baby (nearly one year old now) also continued her awesome track record with pooping in the potty. She did not have a single poopy diaper during the week-long trip. She normally uses a
potty seat, but on this trip she just used her
brother’s potty.
The Baby Bjorn Smart Potty - our new favorite potty.
It's a good size for both the one-year-old and the 3-year-old.
It's compact, sturdy and well-designed.
It has a little rubber on the bottom to help it stay put.
My husband appreciates the removable pot.
The Agony of Defeat
Today is our first full day back home. My toddler pooped in the potty this morning. Then he pooped in this underpants and made a huge mess in the bathroom trying to remove his underwear by himself (it was not a very solid poop, shall we say). I ended up showering him and cleaning the entire bathroom floor. Later, after lots of fussiness from the baby (she’s been generally fussy this past week), the baby pooped in her diaper. Was she trying to tell me something with all those grunts and whines? She also got a bath.
Musings
I know my self-esteem should not depend on where my children deposit their bowel movements, but it’s hard not to get my hopes up after a few days of success. And then it’s somewhat inevitable that I will feel like a miserable failure when all those hopes and dreams are dashed to pieces by. . . poo. I try to remember that really I just want the baby to sometimes poop in the potty so that she doesn’t have to make the psychological leap her brother did when it’s time for full-fledged potty training. I try to remember that only a few months ago my toddler would sit on the potty reading stories for hours, and then poop in his underpants soon after I put them on.
I try to remember. . . it’s just poop.
For more tips, tricks, and tales from our potty training adventures, visit my CLICK HERE.