Like I mentioned, I’m potty training my 19 month old; and although he hasn’t gotten to the point of telling us he has to go, he will hold it until we take him.   The key to no accidents is taking him frequently enough.  This works for me and is way easier and cheaper than changing diapers.

I did a little Googling for tips on teaching a little guy how to tell you he has to go potty.  I didn’t get any information on that, however, my search did come up with a ton of potty training resources, Q&A, and parent comments.  While I didn’t find many under 2 potty training parents, I saw a lot of 3 and 4 year old’s parents asking questions, at their wits end, afraid maybe their child will end up wearing diapers to college.

And I made a startling discovery.
Potty training is largely a lesson in obeying mama’s voice.

I would estimate, based on the stories and comments I read this morning, that about 5% of those toddlers are really just having trouble figuring the whole potty training thing out. 
15% have sidetracked mamas who just don’t remember to take the trainee consistently (I fall into this category).
But a whopping majority, about 80% of the problems mama’s have with potty training their children stem from underlying disciplinary issues. 
“My child just doesn’t want to sit on the potty, and I don’t want to make her”.
“My 3 year old screams when I take her close to the potty”.
“My child takes his diaper off and pees in the corner when he has to go potty”.
“I tried to talk to my 4 year old about the hygienic importance of going in the toilet but he still refuses to go”.
“My child won’t have an accident at preschool but won’t use the potty when we’re at home”.

If a child is refusing to do anything his mother tells him, it is flat out a disciplinary issue. 
And let me be clear.  Refusing to obey is very different from not understanding what you’re being told.  My 19 month old will pee, or at least try to pee, on command – we’ve already passed the ‘learning how to release your pee’ stage. And passed obedience training has already taught him to obey my voice without complaint.  However, he won’t tell me he has to go because he doesn’t understand that process yet.

Not too many generations ago the average child was completely potty trained before the age of 2 1/2.  Now, it unusual to have a child out of diapers before that age.  While diaper companies and psycobabblists do harbour some of the blame for the increase in diaper clad 3 year olds; I still hold to my assessment, wholly based on comments from other mothers, that most children just need proper discipline.

They need to learn to obey mama’s voice.

If I say, “Jesse, it’s time to go potty; come on.”, I fully expect him to head with me cheerfully to the bathroom.  If he fusses, whines, or shows me any defiance at all that is disobedience.

What moms are saying just startled me, is all.  I wonder how much easier it would be for the child if mama was consistent, said what she meant, and followed through with what she said 100% of the time (even 90% will do for most children, but 100% should be our goal).

Instead we confuse them.  We tell them to mind or [insert punishment here] but then do nothing about it when they disobey.  Then, the next day we tell them to mind and then punish them when they don’t obey us. 
How will they ever trust us when we aren’t trustworthy?  How will they ever discern what rules have to be followed and what rules don’t?

And our err in this area is spilling over into every aspect of our children’s lives; into things as fundamental as learning proper toilet practices.

Ladies – Motherhood isn’t this fly by the seat of our pants, do whatever we feel like in the moment operation.

I’m just sayin’.

Yesterday evening I bathed Jesse in the master bath, got him out and dried him off, and he promptly walked his naked butt over to the vacuum cleaner and peed on it.

I’m not sure he’s getting it.

It’s because we use cloth.  Oh how I wish they were as simple as disposables, but saving money is rarely the most convenient route. 

Much to my husband’s chagrin, we spend an unusual amount of time on diaper conversation.  Which ones are best. What and when to buy. How much to spend. How to wash them.  What’s that smell? Can we please just buy a pack of disposables?

And now, why is Jesse’s poor bum looking all torn up?

Potty training a 19 month old usually isn’t easy, though we started training Jesse a few months ago after a bad blueberry episode - to air out his behind and see how he would do in undies.  He did well, but never figured out to tell us when he had to go.  He just held it until he couldn’t hold it anymore. This means we had to remember to take him at regular intervals throughout the day or he’d just pee wherever he was.

Potty training at any age almost always means accidents, and they were super easy to clean up in our tiled house. But this new house has wall to wall carpet so you probably imagine my concern. I’ve been a little hesitant to continue potty training since we got here.
And then there were all the crazy happenings at our house in that first week after we moved in. I ended up deciding to go back to diapers; it was either that or lose my sanity.

But his little bum…

Usually something like this is either a PH issue or a detergent residue problem.  I have tried all the recommended cures, and run the diapers on the sanitary setting with no soap 3 times to no avail. I am thinking it may have something to do with our weird water.  You know, the stuff that lets off a gasoline odor when it rains too much? 

It’s why we have a water dispenser now.

Whatever the issue is with the diapers it is a given that we can’t use the cloth right now, and I certainly don’t want to go back to buying disposables all the time.
Time to return to potty training I guess.  And really, when I think about it, I’ve got to potty train Jesse someday.

I wonder if my droid has an app for this.

[Jesse, accessorized]

People wonder about us – we get questioning stares quite often. 
I used to think it was because I always had a large number of children following me around.  Then it dawned on me that maybe it was the petrified ketchup on my 6 year old’s face at 9 in the morning gaining me attention.  Or that one kid whose hair was overlooked by the comb.  Or that somebody in my lineup is still wearing batman pajamas – not because I was okay with it, just because in counting heads I often miss noticing the rest of the body.

I’m that lady with the 12 passenger van full of car seats.  The one changing a toddler’s wet pants right there in the Publix parking lot. The one wiping last night’s dinner off a 4 year old’s face in the middle of the entrance to the grocery store.

I can hear you thinking, “Oh. She’s that lady.”

Yeah.  That’s me. 

Feel free to wave.

Sam’s memory verse last week was in Joshua.

The LORD your God is giving you rest and is giving you this land.

Sam(2) said, ” The Lord your God is giving you the rest of this lamb”.

Cute.

Yesterday, Sam (2) said stuff, as he usually does.

In the morning while I was getting him dressed (in sweatpants & t-shirt) he said, “I’m going to look amazing!”

Then, after after lunch, when I trimmed up his hair, he said, “Now I look good!”

And after I brushed his freshly washed hair before bed he exclaimed, “I look like a princess!”
To which Ryan replied, shaking his head,  ”I have not done a very good job with him”.

The rest of us were laughing our hind ends off.

Today he told me he was going to buy “the horse sh*t.”
Mind you – we don’t ever curse, we don’t watch tv, and we homeschool.  So, I had to assume he meant something else.  And after asking him to repeat himself a few times and show me what he was talking about I figured out that he meant he was going to buy “the whole set” – speaking of a LEGO set he saw in LEGO Joe’s magazine.

Sam says something everyday.  Ryan and I tend to forget what it was he said last so I’m going to start writing Sam’s revelations here.

Sam on his first birthday (now 2)

Today my 2 year old asked my husband, “What does God the Creator mean?”  And I wonder what happened to my baby.  And where was I when he got smart enough to wonder something like that?

And how does somebody intelligent enough to think up a question like that still forget where to pee?

It all happened overnight.  I went to bed and he was still a toddler.  Then I woke up and he was a small boy.  He still can’t tie his shoes but he can get his boots on without my help.  And although I still have to pour his milk for him, he can drink it out of a regular cup without spilling (most of the time).  

And let’s not forget that he can put his shirt on the right way ICANDOITMYSELF. 

His hands are still pudgy. I’ve still got time.  But not much.

Tomorrow I might wake up to find him perusing college brochures.

Spray paint can lids. 

They are the object of much joy right now.
And a little distress. 

They’re Sam’s.  No, they’re Jesse’s. 

Mine.

No, MINE!

It makes me wonder, again, why we ever spend money on baby and toddler toys.

Some junk mail.  A box. An empty plastic bottle.  A paper bag.  And now spray paint can lids.

If only I was so easily entertained.