Progress Report

Abel at Marshfield Famous Pizza last week. Photo copyright Chris Bernstein.

This weekend we retired the frog potty.

(Do I hear cheering? Don't get too excited.)

We've been trying to get Abel to pee in the "big toilet" because the little frog potty we bought for him is really only adequate for sit-down pees (or poops). When you stand up to use it, there's a splash. And I'm really tired of cleaning up puddles of pee.

So he'll use the big toilet now -- he's got a stepstool right beside it -- problem, solved, right? Well, yesterday I found pee in the bathtub. Just enough, I realized, to indicate that he had overshot the toilet while standing on the step stool. Oh dear --where else might I find pee this week?

One of these days I'm going to stop blogging about our poor son's bathroom habits. But until then . . . I am pleased to report that the "Poop on the toilet instead of in your underpants and we'll go to Marshfield Famous for a gumball" tactic is working.

A friend who is also the mother of four potty trained children advised me once that if you potty train your child before age 2.5, you will do it on your own terms. But if you wait till after then, it'll be on the child's terms. This process (begun when Abel was 2.5) has definitely been on Abel's terms. Yes, it's been frustrating for me -- probably for him too. But it's exciting for all of us when we see progress. And indeed, in the past few weeks, we are seeing progress. The "really good" kind that hints that maybe, just maybe, we are nearing the end of this very long journey.

I love, love, love our son!