Potty Training Makes Me Cry

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I feel like I've been potty training for a year.  Actually, I think it has really been that long. 

My guy is turning 4yo in a couple of months and I just felt this pressure to have him potty trained by his birthday.  Tired of buying pull-ups and thinking underwear would be the push he needed to do this thing, I went cold turkey...underwear all day, pull-ups only at night.  I bought a bunch of undies and some cheap (only $4 at Old Navy!) elastic waist, easy-on/easy-off shorts and I was good to go!  David knew how to use the toliet, plus he had a little potty that we kept in the family room.  Now it was getting him to use either one.  On his own.  Without us making him to do it. 

We were 2 weeks in.  I was already tired of the laundry, trips to public restrooms (4 times during one movie!), the laundry, the laundry, and the laundry.  Stress level was high.  He had some success with a sticker chart.  We were on chart number two (no pun intended) and seemed to have hit a brick wall. 

On Saturday morning the two if us were watching Sesame Street, sitting on the couch.  I got up to go to the kitchen when I realized we were both sitting in a large wet spot.  Urine.  While I was removing the covers from all the couch cushions, he made a huge puddle on the tile floor just feet from the potty.  When he went to his room to get new underwear he made another puddle in his bedroom.  That's 3 puddles in 8 minutes, all within a few feet of a potty or a toliet.  I sat down on my cover-less couch.  And cried.

Thank God for good friends, and veteran moms.  My bestie called in the midst of the pee-pee chaos and had some wisdom for me.  As an outsider she was able to see what I couldn't.  This situation was stressful for mom and toddler, and there would be no training of any kind if it kept up.  She told me what I guess I knew in the back of my head...that he wasn't ready.  It didn't matter that he would be 4 soon or that other people may think it was weird or wrong for my kid to still be in pull-ups.  I needed to do what was right for my child. i was pushing him to be potty trained and he was pushing right back.

There it was.  I had a couch in disaray and two urine puddles to clean up.  I wiped away my tears of frustration, put that kid in a pull-up and fixed us some lunch.

Now it's on his terms.  He'll do it when he's ready.  I just hope he's ready soon.  I am tired of buying pull-ups!

Thank God for good friends, slipcover couches, and tile floors.