Mom thinks it is more stressful than her 13 hours labor!
It has contributed 50 extra mmHg to her blood pressure (at least that is how she feels).
What are you talking about???
Oh, well. Let's start from the beginning (8 months ago):
A week before Thanksgiving long weekend
While chatting with other friends in our playdate group, Mom got some inspiration from a very promising method "
how to potty train your toddler in 3 days".
The idea of the potty training method is to
1) let your toddler drink as much as he can so he get more chance to practice
2) no pullups, no diapers. Just big boy underpants so he will feel uncomfortable when pee in pants.
Three days my toddler can be off the expensive diapers? Little scheme forms in her head.
Before Thanksgiving long weekendMom stocked up 2 dozes of big boy underpants. Mom also shopped for all kinds of juice, jelly, Jello, fruits etc...you name it, thinking whatever goes in has to come out eventually.
Thanksgiving long weekendOh well. It was a good start - he loves drinking juice because we don't normally give him juice box. Because the amount of liquid he consumed, he peed every 25 minutes, but wait, to his pants and floor. When we put him on the potty, he didn't go. But, the moment he put him back on the floor, he had his accident.
So Mom started to sit him on the potty every 30 minutes. To make sure he sit still, she gave him toys, books, and eventually cell phones, palms, GPS. And, none of them seemed to work. He still peed whenever and wherever he wanted.
Our report after the first day - I counted 40+ pieces of clothes we had to wash. But, after the long stressful first day, Mom still believed in that one day she would prevail.
The second day was a little bit better, but no that much success. By the end of second day, Mom was already exhausted. For two straight days without doing anything but watching your toddler's every move and taking him to bathroom and sitting in the bathroom with him for 30 minutes and then wiping the floor and washing the pants and teaching him what is right and what is wrong, AND STILL trying to keep down your temper?, it is a tough job!
By the end of the long weekend, we had some success. He got the idea of what peeing in the toilet is but the stubborn still didn't tell us when he wanted to go.
2 weeks later...You know Mom is very persistent. Whatever she decides to do, she has to do it right and follow it through. With hundreds of accidents on the pants and floors, several incidents of dropping cells , palms and GPS in the toilet, this little stubborn started to tell us "I don't want pee pee" when he in fact wanted to pee. He would even go to public restrooms when we went out to parks and stores. Mom was very moved and she finally saw a light at the end of the tunnel.
2 more weeks later...When we were in the middle of our honeymoom, somehow this little stubborn took a turn and started to refuse to tell us and refuse to go to potty. The situation became worse and worse and eventually it took us two people to get him to the bathroom and he still didn't want to sit. It had became a big battle and every one is losing temper.
Giving up for good....At the meantime, this stubborn refused to eat for the longest time. He would go on without eating anything for a month. Finally, Mom told herself, it is the time to put a break on the potty training. But, I WILL BE BACK!
Re-train over Memorial day weekend (6 months later)...After spending 6 months on expensive pullups, here comes our chance - another long weekend! A week before the training, she started to tell Alvin that we are going to pee in potty like other big boys. She also told him how uncomfortable pullup is and how soft and comfortable big boy under is.
And, this time, Mom changed her stratergy (one has to learn from experience). She would let the toddler to pee on pants without forcing him to go but she would ask him to wash whatever pants he had accidents on (as a punishment) and everytime he had an accident, Mom would give him a time out in the bathroom. This seems to be a success.
But, peeing at home is different than peeing in the daycare. The first day after the long weekend, Mom stayed in daycare for a good 50 minutes to wait until him couldn't hold and he eventually pee in the potty in the daycare. The second day was less, she only waited for 20 minutes. And, after that, he started to show willingness to go in the daycare.
1 week later...Things are going slow but the stubborn is doing better, gradually.
Current state and many problems to remain...Well. He would go on demand at home and in the daycare. But, he still seldom tells us he wanted to pee. He would try to hold it and sometime got a little bit drop in his pant if he couldn't hold it that well. Another big problem is he is so careless. The moment he started to go, he would turn around and tell everyone how good he is and let it drop everywhere from the floor to his pants.
What can we say?
