My oldest, Tucker, is quickly approaching 3 years old. With the addition of our new son, Finn, we have become inundated with diapers. The simple solution would be to just potty train Tucker, right? Not so much!
We have been trying this potty thing for about 9 months. Not only have we not made much progress, I would actually say that we are in exactly the same spot as we were 9 months ago. He won’t use the potty, actually, he throws a fit if we even ask him if he needs to use the potty! Is this normal?
In typical new-ish parent fashion, we go to a source of experts…Facebook. We have heard everything: reward with candy (tried it), get him big-boy underwear (been there), get him a potty book (we have 4 of them), put fruit loops in the toilet for target practice (he tried to grab & eat them), sing songs (do you know the words to “On Top of the Potty”?), let him run around without a diaper (good thing we don’t have carpet!), teach him to go potty outside (tried it, but I have flashbacks of “Big Daddy”), let him watch daddy go pee-pee (hasn’t worked and its kind of creepy).
You get the drift, it’s not really going well! Most of the kids in his daycare class are using the potty. His 2 year old cousin is using the potty. Will Tucker ever use the potty?
I’m sure that he will get the hang of it sooner or later, but is sure seems like it is Mission Impossible! Summer is almost here and, since my wife and I are both educators, we are going into full Def-con 4 mode. I’m going to be the potty drill sergeant, or diaper terminator, or even crazy Tom Cruise jumping up and down on the couch if it makes him use the potty!
This is my mission and I have no choice but to accept it!
The diaper genie will self-destruct in…3…2…1…
