The P word rears its ugly head

The P word. Its Upon us.

Potty training. Oh, that's two words. Poo! Well at least that P word leads me on nicely...

My son is two and a half. He ticks all the boxes for being ready to potty train. He is fascinated by other people going to the toilet (lets hope he loses this fascination in later life!), is increasingly independent (did I mention he’s two and half?), aware when he is doing a poo, wants to help put on and take off his own clothes and has the ability to sit still for more than five minutes. He has ticked all these boxes for ages. Yet still we’d not started potty training.

To be honest, despite the box ticking, I didn’t think either of us were ready. He has shown absolutely no interest in the potty or using the toilet himself, and he has cried when I’ve tried to get him to use either before a bath. He knows when he’s doing a poo, but he lies about it if you ask him because he doesn’t want his nappy changed (he has no problem at all with being in a wet or dirty nappy). So I put it off.

Finally my husband told me I had to do it (sounds harsh, but to be honest I did need telling!!). So we started two days ago and it has actually not been that bad! I have to bribe him every time with a new car (just a very cheap, tiny little toy one – not keys to his own brand new top of the range Mercedes, obviously) which cost me dearly in cars on day one (I actually secretly took some back that evening when he went to bed to use for bribery on the next day – he didn’t notice!) - I’m going to scale it down to a chocolate button or breadstick or something in the next couple of days otherwise I’ll have to remortgage to continue potty training..... although at the moment it is only marginally more expensive than buying nappies and wipes! But the good news is, he knows when he needs a wee (which he still calls “a poo”.... what have I taught him?!) and normally gets to the potty in time. He doesn’t mind if he doesn’t, but he gets super excited about the praise (and the gift of the car) when he does.

So day three today, and he’s gone to nursery in pants and no nappy (and several changes of clothes, just in case). I really hope he’s getting on ok!