The other day Boyd and James were running some errands together. They made a few extra stops at some yard sales along the way and came home with a pretty awesome fire engine. James was in tears when they walked through the door, and I soon learned why as Boyd placed the fire engine on the mantle and said, "James, you can play with this when you learn to use the potty." "I guess we're potty training," I thought. "That's news to me." James figured out real fast he could sit on the potty and squeeze out just enough to bring that fire engine down from it's pedestal. However, every time we had to change a diaper the fire engine went back up. Tantrums would then ensue until James squeezed out a few trickles more and the fire engine was back in his grasp.
This went on all weekend. Monday rolled around and Boyd went to work leaving me to direct fire engine traffic alone. Two days passed and I was not convinced that this little experiment was producing real results. The tantrums were also becoming unbearable. Thus, Wednesday I decided if we are really going to do this potty training thing, we had better do it right. I hid all the diapers and told James since he was a big boy that could ride a tricycle he got to wear big boy underwear and use the potty. I pulled out the timer and set it for 15 minutes. Timer rang, James sat on the potty, did enough to appease me, walked out of the bathroom and within minutes had a major accident. A pattern soon developed after that; clean the carpet, put on new underwear, set the timer...another big accident. This went on all day. We went through 13 pairs of underwear and 5 pairs of pants (I finally stopped putting pants on him after the 5th pair). We gave him a bath that night (and what kid doesn't guzzle plenty of bath water?) so after he was asleep I snuck a diaper on him. Round 1, James is definitely the winner.
The next day we had a few less accidents, only 7 pairs of underwear (no pants since this genius learned her lesson the day before). Round 2, a draw.
The third day rolls around and James refuses to sit on the potty. Nothing I say can convince him, and he's too out of control for me to physical carry to the bathroom and set on the potty. The accidents reach their all time high. Mommy reaches an all time low. That night Boyd and I counsel, the fire engine comes down, the diapers resurface. Round 3, James Heavy Weight Champion of the World.
Yeah, so we pretty much stink at potty training. I keep debating if it was just too early, or if we waited too long allowing James to grow super stubborn. I have a plan though. Now every time Boyd or I need to use the restroom we say, "Uh, oh James. I think I need to go potty. What do I do?" He escorts us to the throne, and walks us through it step by step. I'm hoping over the next couple months this process will be engrained in his mind and he'll just decide to use the potty by himself. If that doesn't work, the day after his 3rd Birthday we're spending a pretty intense week outside. Yep, the naked method. Wish us luck!
So here's some footage of the fire engine that started it all. This thing drives forwards, backwards, and says all kinds of things, not to mention has it's own theme song (which you will witness in the video). It's a pretty catchy little tune. It usually has both James and I humming along.
Another growing pain James is much more willing to embrace is dressing himself. Of course, he's not perfected this new skill yet. I often find him with his shirt backwards and inside-out and both legs in one leg of his shorts so it looks like he's wearing a mini skirt. He proudly modeled his jammies in just such condition the other day.
