Potty Training

Those of us who are parents know that one of the great marks of progress is when our little one can use the toilet like their parents and older siblings.  We appreciate is for the savings on diapers, able to take the children to public locations without worry of changing nightmares and more.

Yet there’s always that moment when the practice and the timing go wrong.

Simon as you know, is the Mr. Incredible of our family.  He was so excited to start potty training and wanted to be like his big brothers, refusing to wear diapers one morning, because ‘he’s big now’.  Well, we learned that his intense concentration when playing can become a huge distraction to the more important body functions we were trying to teach him about.

He was out jumping on the trampoline and chasing the chicken, giggling away when he suddenly froze still.  His eyes looked left and right and then dropped to check the front of his pants.  It a blue blur, he ran across the yard, dashed down the cement steps and into the house, screaming that he needed to pee.

We all chuckled (for he still feels he has to ask permission from someone before he goes) and he throws open the door to the bathroom.  You hear the lid of the toilet thrown back with force, and then a small scream.  Simon comes bolting from the bathroom and runs up to Leilani in the kitchen wide-eyed and red faced, screaming ‘Help! You need to unbutton my pants!’

Kneeling down, my daughter tried to get a grip on the front of her 3 year old jumping bean brother.  But when she finally got a hold of the button, Simon froze, the expression on his face instantly relaxed.

“Ahhhh.” he whispered….as a puddle formed under his feet.

The kid still gets an A- for effort.  We now have a working program to show him how to undo his own button…or we put him in elastic pants (grin).