S.O.S.

Potty Training.

aka. The Bane of my Existence.

I wish I could adopt a really laid-back, patient attitude here.  I really do.  I know the pros and cons of both sides of the argument, I know the research, I know the psychological and physiological aspects.  I know.

I know I shouldn't rush something that isn't seeming to work.  It doesn't click.  It sometimes even upsets him.  Psychologically, this is not good.

I also know that allowing him to continue going in his diaper is training him to continue going in his diaper (funny how much sense that makes, isn't it?) and physiologically, there are issues with that (night wetting, more accidents, etc.)

I also know that I'm about to have another baby in 3 months, and for that matter Owen is approaching the 2.5 year mark.  Two and a half years- that is plenty old enough to potty train!  (We started the process at one year, so please save the "he's too young" statements.  Hogwash.  You KNOW how I feel about potty training.)  Besides, we've got one set of cloth diapers and a baby in my belly that is going to need them soon.  (Technically he won't "need" the ones Owen is using for another 5 months since Baby will be in newborn-sized cloth diapers, but diapering two kids while also trying to train the older one and deal with the newborn are NOT things I want to be doing.)

I know many, many, many 2 year olds who are trained and who have been trained for a while.  The funny thing is, they are all girls.  Now, I'm not about to blame Owen's sex for the problem, as I know that we have also never done a diaper-free weekend (we do diaper-free days, except naptime) so it hasn't been a consistent thing.  My fault.  But there is some truth to boys being harder to train.  And when the boy is a product of Kraig and myself, you can rightly throw in a good amount of stubbornness and well, here we are.  (Or maybe I jinxed myself by talking about it so much.  Is this some kind of karma?  I don't like it.)

Owen knows where he is supposed to go.  He knows when he is going potty (on the floor. Sigh.)  He knows he gets praise or even a treat when he goes on the potty.  He knows it all.  He'll even volunteer to sit on the potty (when he doesn't have to go).  But the second it's serious, like he could go on the potty- we have it timed just right... he gets scared.  He freaks out.  He screams and flails.

This is not good, my friends.  I can't push through that part.

So, we're still putting him in big-boy undies or letting him roam sans-underpants even.  We're still encouraging him to tell us when he has to go.  We're still putting him on the potty when we think it's time.  We're trying really, really hard and then all of a sudden he's eating his dinner at the table and saying "I'm peeing!" and it doesn't bother him.  He's just doing it like it's no big deal.

Great.

Help me?  Please help me.