Potty training? Check!

About a month ago, Biscuit's day care teacher asked us if we thought Biscuit was ready to start potty training. It was a complicated question.

We had been working with Biscuit for a while, but he was showing no interest whatsoever. We read potty-related books to him. We let him accompany Jeff to the bathroom to get an idea of how things are done. We bought him big-boy underwear. A friend of ours gave him some character underwear, thinking it might be an encouragement. But Biscuit wasn't have any of it. A friend even gave us a potty training boot camp program. We used some of the techniques, but with Biscuit in day care, it just wasn't something that we could be consistent with. When you only have evenings and weekends to work on it, you lose the benefit of repetition.

And this probably makes me a horrible mother and person, but I had absolutely no desire to deal with the whole potty training thing. Maybe if Biscuit had been a girl, I wouldn't have been so freaked out by it. It wasn't the physical stuff that bothered me, it was that I felt completely clueless about how to go about the whole thing. And believe me, if we got one piece of advice, we got a million. And a lot of it was contradictory.

So Jeff and I talked about it and figured having help at day care was the way to go. Actually, we didn't even have to talk about it. I told Jeff that Biscuit's teacher offered, and we both looked at each other and said, "Okay."
Let me say that it was clear that Biscuit's teacher has done this before.

The first day, I dressed him in big-boy underwear, and before we could leave for day care, he was wet. I had to change his shirt, his pants, his underwear and even his socks. Once he was re-dressed, we headed off to day care with a backpack holding three complete changes of clothes.

When I picked Biscuit up that afternoon, he was wearing different clothes, and there were two dirty outfits in a bag in his backpack.


Biscuit has a small waist and hips, so finding pants that fit him right now has been quite a struggle. So after realizing that he had gone through four pairs of pants in that one day, I was a little worried that I wouldn't be able to do laundry fast enough to keep up.


But thankfully, my worries were eased. The next day, Biscuit wore the same outfit all day. And it happened again the day after that. And the day after that. And the day after that.


Biscuit has had two accidents since then. He woke up wet from a nap at day care. His teacher said he was pretty upset. He kept apologizing, and she kept telling him that it was just an accident, and sometimes accidents happen. It has made me feel a lot better knowing that his teacher has the same no-pressure frame of mind that Jeff and I do.


We refer to the other accident as a puppy accident. You know how puppies pee when they get too excited? Well, as I was walking with Biscuit to the bathroom, Jeff got home from a long day at work. Biscuit was so excited to see him, he bypassed the bathroom and ran to Jeff. 


Surprise, Dad!


There have been a couple of other situations that I won't go into detail about. I just chalked them up to the learning experience. They're funny stories when told in person, but I don't want to embarrass Biscuit.



Overall, we've been very lucky that Biscuit has tackled this whole thing so quickly. But I think the timing only seems quick. Biscuit can be very studious about learning new things. He tends to think on things for a while before he makes an effort to actually do anything. I think he likes to get all his ducks in a row before he starts putting what he's learned in to practice.


We were warned that even though Biscuit had conquered No. 1, that some kids had more problems with the No. 2 process. So I was very surprised when on the third day of his training, Biscuit told me he needed to do business. And he did.

Biscuit is very independent about the whole thing. He wants to do everything himself. Part of that is because of his teacher. She has a very methodical technique.


The boys have to lift up the seat, then pull down their pants and underwear. Then they lean forward and put their hands on the lifted seat. The lean puts them in the perfect position for good aim. That in itself is very helpful to the person who cleans the bathrooms at my house (which would be me). But then, and this is my favorite part, she teaches the boys that moms and sisters use the bathroom sitting down, so after they pee, the boys have to put the seat back down. She's training them right from the get-go.


I've heard that kids who are doing very well with being potty trained can revert for one reason or another. And if that happens with Biscuit, we'll figure it out.


But for now, we are rejoicing in our Biscuit baby's accomplishment. We are very proud of him, and he is very proud of himself, too.


He went into the bathroom the other day to pee, and when he was done, he said, "Mom, I'm very proud for me to pee in the toilet." (Which he says as "toi-wet.")


I actually teared up a little bit. I'm very proud for you, too," I said to him.