Potty Training 101

It's official! The day of the diaper is officially over; however, the night of the diaper is another story (for now). Finn has started potty-training. I feel that the whole term--potty training--is a misnomer. Because I know grown men who still don't have the hang of it. Anyway, I have been dreading this for a long, long time. Probably since Finn was born and I knew this day would eventually find us. I don't know why I feel this way, I just do. For some reason, the thought of begging/pleading/forcing/bribing an independent and at times tenacious little boy to stop what he is doing to go sit on a potty for a long time, when he was totally happy going in his diaper whenever he felt like it isn't really appealing to me. Call me crazy. Also, the thought of stopping what I'm doing at any given moment, be it grocery shopping, driving or pumping gas, to search high and low for the nearest disgusting public restroom doesn't sound like a barrel of laughs either. And yes, I know that it will eventually be cheaper, easier and cleaner for him to be out of diapers, but that won't be tomorrow. However, I don't want Finn to go to high school in diapers, so I guess now is as good a time as any to start.

All of the books say that in order to potty train successfully, both mom and child have to be ready and I kept waiting for the magical day to arrive, and I am still waiting. We have been slowly warming up to the idea . . . buying potties and potty seats, elastic waist pants, and much more potty paraphernalia to get ready for the big day. I kept thinking that Finn would wake up and go "mom, I would like to use the potty now." And also, money grows on trees. The point is, he wasn't interested and I wasn't either. But after much encouragement from my friend Alisha (who, by the way, had Sam potty-trained a month or so after her 2nd birthday), I decided to take the plunge.

So, diapers are history, except for the ones he wears at night. I thought I was going cold-turkey and just put him in underwear but after a few incidents, I had to rethink my plan and now we are using a combo of pull-ups for school and classes and underwear for the other times. We use the "potty treat" method with candy as the reward. A visit to the potty=a treat for Finn. Because I have such a candy fiend on my hands, I'm hoping it will work.

After a couple of days, I have to say that he is doing quite well. We have had some hits and some misses and occasionally I've had to drag him kicking and screaming to the bathroom, but other than that I am extremely proud of my big boy. Our first time leaving the house was a success . . . granted we only went to the gym for an hour, but still, no accidents! Our second day was not as successful . . . I'll spare you the details.

It's a learning process for all of us. But, I'm proud of Finn (and me) for pulling off the band-aid and taking the next step in growing up. I'm sure there will be lots more to share on our "potty journey." Stay tuned!