The Perfectly Imperfect Kingdom : The War on Diapers

       I am writing to you today from the trenches of Pottyville. Although, we do seem to be close to seeing the white flag raised! We are on day three of officially potty training, and I'm proud to report great success! Last Monday Markus came to me repeatedly to tell me that his diaper was wet, only to discover he had peed just a little. That was the point at which a said enough was enough! He had already been hiding in his room to poop, and telling me "Go away Mommy! I'm pooping!", so I knew it was time. I also knew that we would need to have several days at home to achieve this. I told him that since he still had two days of school that week, that he would not being wearing diapers at home anymore. The first night he was very excited. I had him sit on the potty about every thirty minutes, and he did great. No accidents!
         The next day I was thinking it was too good be true, and yet still completely not ready to do it. (I had planned on doing it this summer when it was warm and Markus could just run around without pants on.) When he got home from school I took off his diaper and said "No more diapers at home". This was the more difficult of nights. Markus realized that peeing in the potty meant he had to stop what he was doing to go, and when he was playing he didn't want to. He actually said this to us several times when we tried to get him to sit on the potty. Also he still can't get underwear down, but doesn't want help. This means a lot of accidents or just sitting on the potty with the underwear on and peeing right through them. Which of course made us both upset.
         The next morning I decided that I needed to get Markus excited about using the potty. We went to the store so he could pick out his own potty and underwear. He picked a Lightening McQueen potty, and Toy Story underwear. He was super excited to sit on the potty, and did it right there in the parking lot. He still refused to go though, and when we got home he sat on the potty with his pants on and just let it all out. We put on the new Toy Story underwear and talked about how Buzz Lightyear did not want pee on him. It was pretty much hit or miss all day. He still didn't want to take the time to use the potty, and still couldn't get the underwear off. Not too long after taking one pair that he'd peed in off, and before putting on a new pair, he started to poop and ran through the living room to tell us. Joe was amazing, and cleaned the trail that followed off the carpet. That night, after I put him to bed on a pile of towels (even though he had yet to pee on the bed, just got out of bed and peed on the floor), I questioned whether he was truly ready. I was relieved that he had school in the morning and I wouldn't have to deal with it for a couple hours. I realize now that I still wasn't committed to making it work.
         When Markus got home from school on Thursday I knew that now was the time. He didn't have school until Tuesday, and since Joe had just gotten his wisdom teeth out, I knew we wouldn't be going anywhere. I took off Markus' diaper and said "This is it. Your last diaper. From now on, you'll wear big boy undies!". Joli yelled "Yay, Markus", which was very encouraging to him, and he started jumping up and down yelling "Yay!". It was still a little rough that evening. He wouldn't go when I asked him to, but if I left him alone he would run to the potty where I'd take off his underwear so he could go. This got complicated since he didn't want help. When I helped him get off the underwear he'd get mad because he wanted to do it, and then refuse to go. Eventually one time he couldn't stand it and let me help him take off the underwear so he could go.
         The next day Joli was school, which made it easy to focus on Markus. We continued to have the same problems, although he didn't have any accidents that morning. However, when I put him down for a nap he refused to go potty. I put the potty next to the bed and told him to use it if he needed it. Shortly after, I heard Joe rushing around saying "Hold still Markus", and Markus saying "So-wy Daddy". Apparently Markus had tried to use the potty, but couldn't get his underwear off, and all the poop he'd been holding in came out anyway. I gave Markus a bath, while Joe cleaned the floor again. When I got Markus out of the bath I told him and Joe that he just wanted going to wear any bottoms until he got it down. The rest of the day went great. Markus didn't have any pants on, and as long as we didn't make him go, he would just use the potty when he needed to. He was very proud of himself when he did, and excited to flush everything down after. When I got him ready for bed, I put him in two piece pajamas that had an elastic waist. These he was able to get down by himself, and it occurred to me that sweatpants were probably the way to go.
           The next day we left Markus in the pajamas that he could get on and off easily and he had no accidents all day! The only time we had to change him was when his penis wasn't in the potty when he peed. I felt very encouraged that we had actually made it through!
           This morning Markus woke me up crying at 5:45 because he had peed in his bed. It was the first time he had, so after cleaning him and the bed up, I asked him why he didn't go in the potty. He said it was too cold. So now, we're going to have to leave the heat on at night for a little while. I got him back in bed, and about two hours later he woke me up again to tell me he had peep in the potty, but got some on his pants. Joe spent most of the morning showing Markus how to push his penis down when he peed (thank goodness Joe was here, because I didn't have a clue what to do!). Right before nap time I told Markus he needed to use the potty. He pulled his pants down, sat down, push his penis down in the potty, peed, got up, pulled his pants up, took the pee and dumped in the the toilet, flushed, rinsed out the bowl, and then put it back in the potty! All I did was watch with pride!

I know there will still be accidents, and I am nervous about how Markus will do in public, and especially at school. But overall, I am so proud of my little man that was wearing diapers less than a week ago!! He's such a big boy now!! Look how much he's grown!!