Potty Talk

Simon's been potty training for a week now. He's great at peeing on the potty when I take him and now wakes up from naps dry and even woke up dry this morning! But he is vehemently against pooping on the potty. He just will not poop.

Well, let's backtrack to the pee pee... Simon has only told me twice that he had to pee, the rest of the time I just took him to avoid accidents. He's not great at telling me he has to go but he's good at going when I take him. He wears a Pull-up if we take him to the store or the park or someone's house and they stay dry. Thankfully, he's not one of those kids that pees himself just because he's wearing a Pull-up. Actually, I think this is because he really doesn't care if he's got a wet diaper, Pull-up or undies, so he's indifferent about what's covering his booty. None of those things bother him one bit.

You know what else doesn't bother Simon? Sitting in his poop. That's why potty training him is so difficult. Since his birth he has never minded sitting in his own pee and/or poop in the least! He has the promise of matchbox cars if he poops on the potty as well as promises of M&Ms and Cars undies. Simon is very excited about all these things and talks daily about going to the store to get cars (and then adds other things he wants), but it's not motivation enough to make him poop on the potty.

But I think I've found Simon's motivator: TV. This kid loves TV. As of Monday afternoon, the rule has been no TV for Simon til he poops on the potty. And you know what? He's gone from saying he doesn't want to poop on the potty to actually trying to today! He sat on the potty for almost a half hour while we read books but pooped himself five minutes after he got up. But he did make another attempt of his own accord even though he didn't have to go... because he wanted to watch TV!

We've (I've) given up potty training twice now because I just didn't want to deal with it, but this time I pretty much have to or wait a year. If I don't do it now, I might as well wait til after Christmas because we'll be traveling and there's no sense in starting it a couple weeks before traveling. By March I'll be in my miserable 3rd trimester of pregnancy where I have little motivation to do much of anything, so there's no sense in doing potty training then, and besides that, he's very likely to backslide when Baby comes in May especially if he was just recently potty trained. I also won't have the time or energy to handle potty training while I have a newborn plus, I really, really, really do NOT want to change diapers for 3 kids when one is more than able to go on the potty (and just doesn't want to).

Simon is two-and-a-half. He's old enough to use the potty. He shows plenty of the typical readiness signs for potty training. It's a matter of breaking his will against it, and by golly, I think his TV deprivation just might do that... and if not, well, at least he won't be a TV zombie.