The Battle Between Good and Poop: Potty Training Begins

For the past 6 months when I go to pick up diapers for Ali I announce to her “this is your last box of diapers!” I think I’m hoping somehow by osmosis that statement will click something in her head and she will begin using the potty effortlessly on her own.  So far that tactic hasn’t worked with anyone. Now that she’s almost three it’s time for me to bite the bullet and get this girl going in the bathroom.


We’ve tried to get her into the bathroom before. If you follow me on Twitter or Facebook you’ll have seen Ali’s struggle. (Shameless plugs: Follow me on Twitter @Lazybabymama and "Like" me on Facebook) She’s pooped on the toilet, not in the toilet. And one time she ran in the bathroom to pee and decided to take her pee cup thing out of the potty and bring it into the kitchen to show daddy. Very hygienic.

I’ve gotten all my prep work done; we have the potty, the stickers, everything. I even went and let her pick out all her underwear. One backfire is she wanted to show everyone she had underwear on because she was so proud. I wasn’t too thrilled with the idea that she likes to show people her underwear, inappropriate.

I’m just so confused about the whole thing; there are so many methods. I’m cool with letting her run around the house with no diaper but what am I supposed to do when I leave the house? I don’t like going in public restrooms now I have to make her go there? Honestly we just got this diaper thing into a good flow now I have to change it. Why is growing up harder on me than it is on her?

I think maybe I'm scared of potty training after an event that happened over the summer. Ali and I were playing with the sprinkler at the park. There were a few other kids there and one young boy started to show the signs that he had to “go”. His mother, instead of taking him to the bathroom, grabbed this pop up potty from her bag and placed it on the ground. The boy promptly removed his pants and dropped a deuce … right there … in the middle of the park. She didn’t take him behind a tree or near the garbage. She just had him go for the gold right there for all to see. I almost felt bad watching, actually I'm pretty sure watching it may have been illegal but I couldn’t look away. When he was done the mother high-fived him and took the goods over to the garbage where she disposed of it. I was staring at her in horror and confusion. At that point I decided it was better to have Ali go discretely, well as discretely as possible, in her diaper in the middle of the playground rather than put on a show for the rest of the kids in the middle of the playground.

Unfortuantely diapers only get so big and the time for excuses is over. We’ve only had two … make that three accidents today but no success stories. I guess it’s a game of patience. If I can get out of this with minimal damage to her psyche I think it’s a success. If it gets to be too much don’t judge me for getting a pop up potty. 

4 comments:

  1. hilarious as usual!

    ReplyDelete
  2. you so funny, LBM!! you write so well too.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Thanks guys! I would like to announce that since I posted this we've gone through 5 pairs of underwear and had one successful attempt! We're on our way. Slow and steady wins the race.

    ReplyDelete