Before I go too far into it here are a couple of things I know already. I know that it could sometimes take a child up until they are four years old to be potty trained. I know that my child is still considered a little young to be potty training. Finally, I know that every child is different and will potty train at his or her pace. With that said, I don’t need to be told “he is too little” because he has already been trained…mostly. That is why I am writing this post.

Just after Gavin turned two I decided we should see where he is at with the potty training. My husband thought I was nuts but he was showing signs of being ready. For instance, he would tell me when he would pee and poop in his diaper. He also wanted to watch us use the bathroom, as well as the older daycare kids who were being potty trained at the same time. I figured, why not!?

I went into it with the mindset that it was just a check in. If he didn’t get it at all then we would back off. Surprisingly enough, within a few days he was staying dry all day. Within two weeks of being taken potty regularly and staying dry throughout the day he was telling us he had to go potty! I was so happy…shocked!

When my older kids were potty training I did what everyone else did, I used Pull Ups for them. My oldest was trained by the time he turned 3 (it was a nightmare because I was a first time mom and clueless). My daughter had a harder time and it wasn’t until around 5 years old that she was staying dry throughout the day. But with Gavin I decided to follow a tip from the of the mom of a boy I took care of. The advice was actually prompted by his Montessori School and I was completely on board when mom asked if I would be okay with doing the same thing. It’s simple, no Pull Ups. That’s right. Go straight from diapers to undies. That little boy was potty trained in less than 2 weeks!!! It was amazing. I strongly urged another family to try the same thing with their little girl as she was pushing the four-year old mark and once we all got on board she was trained in about a week as well. Of course because they were little, there were some accidents but we had what I would call potty training success pretty quick. So when it came time to try it with Gavin I said no to Pull Ups. Like I said, it didn’t take long at all before he was staying dry and then asking us to go potty.

Fast forward about 6 or so weeks….REGRESSION. ????? Why does this have to happen??? So while Gavin was asking to go pee on the potty, he still wasn’t going poop on the potty. He refused and started a pattern of going early morning, or right as he was waking up from nap, while he still had a diaper on. I was fine with that because I know that part of training takes a little longer. Then all of a sudden he started having TONS of accidents, stopped telling us he had to go pee pee, and became constipated. I decided to back off because I didn’t want him being constipated. My daughter had issues with constipation and it has been a really hard road for her where that is concerned. So after putting Gavin back in diapers to avoid pooping problems he absolutely refused to go back to peeing on the potty.

It’s been a few months since being back in diapers and recently he is showing signs of being ready to be trained again. For instance, he will pee in his diaper and then tell me he just did it. He has woken up a few times recently with a completely dry diaper in the morning and at nap time. And he will TELL me when he is about to go poop, then go into the foyer to do his business. His current pattern though is the most frustrating. The last few weeks he has been pooping right after I lay him down for nap, or shortly after. It’s been brutal because after I change him, and hope with will go to sleep, he stays up. My kid will not nap anymore. I’m lucky if I get one nap a week out of him. I’m losing my mind!!! Okay, back to business…this post is about potty training and not my depression over my kid not napping!

Because he has been showing the other signs of potty training, and I’ve seen this pattern of pooping, I’ve decided to use it to my advantage. I’ve started putting him on the potty to poop right before nap time in hopes that he will go because it’s around the same time he has been going. NOPE. He waits me out and then poops as soon as he gets into bed. I’ve been told and I’ve read that a drop of peppermint essential oil in the potty could help. I’ve tried it a few times and I can tell it’s starting to work and then just like that he closes up shop…the little turd! I really thought I was more stubborn than he is but he is proving me wrong. After two attempts today, one before lunch and one after lunch, totaling about an hour and twenty minutes, I put a diaper on him and laid him down. This was after all of the things I tried to keep him calm and relaxed and encouraged to go…essential oils (peppermint in the toilet and Digize on his tummy), hand holding, switching potties three times, Dinosaur Train, Monkey Potty (YouTube it, it’s ridiculous), and some classical music. He passed right out today but the kid was exhausted from waiting me out and holding it in…and because I put a sleepy blend on him during lunch because dammit if he’s not gonna poop on the toilet then he is at least going to sleep!

I’m really trying to find the beauty in potty training…I’m guessing it comes when they are actually trained LOL…but for right now I’m struggling.