While Caleb has been peeing in the potty for a while now, Joshua has absolutely refused to pee unless he's wearing both a diaper and pants. Weary of fighting with him about it, I decided to step back and allow him to blossom on his own time. After all, watching his twin use the potty would prompt him to follow suit, would it not? And if not peer pressure, then surely bribes of new Thomas trains and trips to the water park would win him over. But no, months later Joshua remained adamant that he would not pee unless he was wearing a diaper and pants.
Desperate for some reprieve from being cooped up in our small house with 3 boys all day long, day after day, I decided to research enriching activities that the boys could participate in without me. Weekday activities for toddlers are predominantly "Mommy and Me" style classes that require a 1:1 parent-to-child ratio, which incidentally excluded the twins from participation. But now that they are 3 years old, they're eligible to enroll in classes that don't require parental invovlement. The only catch is that for all of these classes, the kids need to be potty trained. So I was presented with the following dilemma-- do I sign Caleb up for classes and keep diaper-clad Joshua with me? No, that didn't seem fair, and it wouldn't be giving me much of a break, either. And so I resolved to potty train Joshua once and for all.
On Monday I put Joshua in underwear first thing after he woke up. All day long he whined, cried, and screamed for a diaper. I spent a considerable portion of the day in the bathroom with Joshua, offering an equal share of threats and bribes, all to no avail. I offered him the opportuity to pee outside in the mud or grass as an alternative, but he outright refused to pee anywhere unless he was wearing a diaper and pants. I refused to give in. After holding in his pee all day long, we finally coerced Joshua to pee in the bathtub that evening. He was in tears over the ordeal, but was happy to receive a brand new Thomas Train, Hector, as a reward.
Fast forward to Friday morning. After three arduous days of potty training boot camp (the details of which I'll omit since they would surely horrify our gentle readers), Joshua was the proud owner of yet another Thomas Train, Old Slow Coach, and "white car". He had been peeing consistently in the bathtub, and I felt confident enough to venture out to the playground to meet some friends. It wasn't long after we'd arrived at the playground that Joshua announced that he wanted a diaper. I suggested he pee in the bathtub instead, and he agreed. I escorted him to the pool house, where lo and behold not a single bathtub was in sight. "I'm sorry, Joshua!" I said, feigning surprise at the dearth of bathtubs on the premises. "You'll just have to pee in the potty instead." To my delight, instead of putting up a fight, he pulled down his pants and peed while standing at a toilet for the very first time! I was ecstatic and he was clearly proud of himself, too.
After lunch at KFC with our friends, the boys and I headed out to the mall. Our salty lunch resulted in us all chugging lots of water, and it wasn't long before both boys began to complain about needing to use the potty. We rushed into the restroom at Lord & Taylor and one of the boys stepped up to the toilet, pulled down his pants, and I lifted him up so he could pee. "Good job, Caleb!" I said. Then I grabbed the other boy and helped him pee. "Good job, Joshua! Mommy's so proud of you!" I exclaimed. The boy turned to face me and gave me a look as if to say, "I'm not Joshua!" and it was then that I realized that I was holding Caleb, and that it had been Joshua who took the initiative to step up to the potty first! Joshua peed while standing at the toilet for the third time ever that evening at Old Country Buffet. I was pretty impressed that we had been out and about the entire day without a single accident. Clearly, Joshua's potty training has not been a matter of learning to control his bodily functions, but a matter of conquering his strong will. Maybe I don't talk to other moms enough, but I've never heard of another potty training saga such as this one.
Now, if we can just get both boys to poop on the potty consistently, we can go to the much-aniticipated water park. In the meantime, I'm eagerly anticipating Fairfax County's Parktakes catalog of Fall classes!
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