In my first post I talked about the two number twos that are most commonly talked about when you are mother to a toddler. I am... well, pleased isn’t exactly the most accurate word to use right now, but maybe relieved would work? Yes, let’s say that I am relieved to say that we have ventured into the scary world of potty training (one of the number twos) which I have to say is... well, not that scary actually.
Before we started, I read up in what we call ‘The Book’ which consists of anything from Internet articles to Gina Ford to Miriam Stoppard to a whole bunch of other people’s books – basically it is the resource pool that you refer to when you have no idea what you are doing. I refer to The Book regularly, in many different walks of life. I bought Little Companion a book called I want my Potty by Tony Ross which planted the seed of doubt about how great nappies are in his mind – as Little Princess (main character in said book) says, ‘nappies are YUCKK’ something that Little Companion now gets great satisfaction from repeating at high volume.
Just quickly - I feel like I've come into the genius that is Tony Ross a bit late in the game with Little Companion's developmental mile stones - there seems to be a brilliantly illustrated 'little princess' book for everything from potty training to eating solid food - how have I only just noticed these fantastic and funny books?
In the first week our saintly Nanny, went in the deep end, with pants and trousers at all times, and not a nappy in sight, which resulted in, on average, 6 accidents a day and precisely no bodily fluid ever going anywhere near the potty and our volume of washing doubling over night. Not successful – back to the drawing board i.e. back into nappies while we regroup and have a think about how to address this, now, problem.
Second week was a no go - mainly due to us all - as in me, Little Companion, Nanny, Naked Chef Husband and My Father, not being on the same page as one and other, nappies were well and truly donned in that week. Potty was nowhere to be seen.
Naked chef husband and I had one of only two memorable disagreements we’ve had this year on the topic. I’m pleased to report that he eventually conceded and told me that I was unequivocally right and apologised. HA! Talk about Breaking News... Not to delve too deeply into the nuances of the disagreement, I felt that both he and my father – another of Little Companion’s primary carers, couldn’t really be arsed with potty training. The reason why I thought this is because they are both massive neat freaks and they hate the thought of any type of mess in their homes'. My beliefs were backed up with hard evidence - when I’d asked both of them, on separate occasions, in a fairly nonchalant manner how the potty training had gone, they had both said something along the lines of, 'Oh, he wee’d on the floor, so I put him back into a nappy'. Not exactly the report I’d been hoping to hear.
After Naked Chef Husband shouted at me, saying that 'living with me was like living in army barracks’ (fairly harsh, I think) and 24 hours of silent treatment, the aforementioned complete U turn and apology happened, and we were both, once again, singing from the same song sheet. Potty training will be messy – there will be rank bodily fluid involved, but everyone that looks after Little Companion has to be on board with that reality, and carry on with the plan anyway or it won’t work.
Week three seemed to be taking after week two, until my mum looked after Little Companion for a day. They stayed at home and pottered about, he was naked from the waist down and was verbally encouraged by my mum ever 30 seconds to sit on the potty. Is this where the phrase 'pottered about' comes from?? (side note - no this is where the phrase comes from...) This resulted in success – and praise was then showered on him, in the form of what I like to call rewards, but most others would call bribery: Chocolate Buttons! Following on from this casual break through whenever we are at home Little Companion is essentially naked on the bottom half, and voluntarily goes for a wee wee in the potty. Hurrah! Success! He is consistently rewarded with chocolate and it works! It was endorsed by my mother, and is therefore not morally corrupt.
We are yet to venture out into the great wide world without nappies (apart from the disastrous first week) but I have a feeling that the introduction of chocolate into the equation means that this step is not far off at all.
There are two things that I have learnt through this process – the first is that mum’s really do know best, and the second is that being calm and not too bothered by things really is the best way to keep your sanity whilst striving for success.
I reckon that by July we’ll be completely potty trained. She says with absolute confidence. Ahem.
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