A New Erik: Day 1

Okay, perhaps I've sounded a bit dramatic in the past about the task of potty training Erik. For those who don't know Erik well, perhaps the most encompassing word to describe him, after cute, is hypersensitive. Yes, that came out strongly this morning. At 10am I felt I'd underestimated the treacherous impossibility of attempting this task alone and was ready to quit. However, we'd already thrown his diapers in the trash first thing in the morning. He could still squeeze into Charlie's diapers, Erik reminded me several times. But no. I was more committed than that.

Eventually, a few "accidents" later, I persuaded Erik to at least try sitting on the potty chair, and even later, finally bribed him with sugary snacks into wearing undies. (Yes, he remained nude for a little while there, eg below wearing "skates.")

Having the potty party atmosphere helped, I think. (Streamers, balloons, all the toys that have been packed in storage for a few weeks, special cookies and crackers, unlimited chocolate milk and grape juice.)

Having the Pauls over for a couple hours was a worthy distraction, as well. Six kids constrained to one room made for some serious craziness (and sounded much like a demolition team to Bob downstairs), but passed the time well.


Once he was willing to sit on the potty and wear undies, things went pretty smoothly. Only once did he get to the potty to go #1 of his own initiative (he did forget to pull his undies down before squatting, but I was still ecstatic), but he still earned a total of TEN potty stickers! I am eternally grateful that he did both #2s on the potty! He also had nine accidents, and then another in his bed just now.


Hmmm, that makes 17 peepees today. That was a little shocking to me. Granted, I was forcing chocolate milk on the kid all day, but I was still caught unaware. I guess when you've never had to use any bladder restraint whatsoever, it's just one small stream after another trickling out all day.

I won't pretend that this was less than the most exhausting and stressful day I've had in a long while, but on the up side, I am incredibly proud of the progress Erik made in twelve [extremely long] hours. From the first puddle, I was so pleased that he even recognized what had happened. I was afraid he'd just play on! Not only did he notice he'd peed, but it also bothered him. Good, good. And he got to the potty all on his own once. Better, better. And a couple other times he dripped a little and then held it until I could transport him to the can. Excellent. Couldn't hope for more, really. Wouldn't dare to. But I do expect tomorrow to be an improvement.

P.S. Charlie decided today would be a fine day to start crawling. He also found it a fine day to take three naps, but I'm using the term nap very loosely. He slept a total of 40 minutes over twelve hours. So, it's been an enriching day. =)