It's About Independence!

November 10, 2012

Bradley has been showing signs of interest in this whole potty training thing.  We know that this can be quite a huge struggle and then triumph for any kid, but especially our little guy.  So we got him a potty to get him familiar with what it is and take away all the weirdness of the thing…well as much as you can anyway.  He seems to like it and to be interested enough in it that he sits down every night on it just before he gets into his bath.  But we’ve noticed the potty has some flaws, like maybe it wasn’t meant for little girls more than little boys.  Yeah sure, they say it is for boys too and even include a diagram on how to use for little boys in order to prevent overflow…but um…yeah, it takes a special yoga position to get parts in the right place that would keep the stream in the pot.  And as I am a girl and have successfully potty trained two girls, I am a little unsure about training a little boy… I mean, does guiding the hose hurt, or is that the idea behind this tiny opening for boys, if you guide the hose down will he then shoot down and not out of the potty?   I’m willing to be the consistency beacon on this mission, but I think that Eric should be taking point on this; I mean it only seems fair.  That’s like our deal that when it comes time to have, you know, “The Talk” I told Eric I would handle the girls and he gets to have the boys.  That was when we first got together though, before I learned I would be handling Algebra and “The Talk” twice.  He only has to have it once, and we aren’t even sure how much of “the Talk” he has to have with Bradley or when.  But that is a conversation for another day, years down the road. Whereas, Madison will be having her “Welcome to Puberty Movie” in April and she and I will have to have some version of “the Talk” over Spring Break.  So yeah, I’m putting Eric on this boy potty Point thing.  So back to this potty thing, this strange potty shape that is leaving us baffled is not hypercritical; after all, we’re just starting. 

So last night before bath we get him stripped down and the girls come running, “We want to see Bradley go peepee in the potty for the first time!”  We’ve had him sitting down before the bath every night for about ten days now. 

The Realist in my thought, well…that’s gonna take a while.  But I merely said, “Well, don’t be disappointed if it’s not tonight, we’re just getting started, but come on in.” 

We sat him down, should have worried more about that yoga positioning, and I said to him, “Want to go peepee in the potty Bradley?” 

Would you believe he did?  And would you also believe that we were so shocked that neither of us even tried to stem the flow by moving him around.  One: it was just “Wow, he’s going”.  And then it was, Two: “HE’S GOING!”  don’t mess up a good thing! 

So we cheered and we fist bumped and we hugged him and as unobtrusively as possible Dad and I both wiped a tear or two away, cause believe it or not…this is just that big! 

Will he go again tonight?  Don’t know, but we know he has, and that opens the door of optimism.  Perhaps with enough repetition and work we can get this potty training under control before he starts school.  Will he be going to school in big boy pants?  Geesh, who knows?  I didn’t think he’d even go yet, so who knows what he’s going to do tomorrow.  But I know that I’m pretty proud of him right now.  And I feel like every other parent with their kid starting their first foray into being independent in the bathroom.  It’s about being his own person, about being able to move a step away from mom and dad.  This is huge for every kid, it doesn’t matter how many chromosomes you have when you do it.  J