Potty Trained?

So...potty training...

Yeah.

Not so fun.

Why in the world we decided that the Saturday before Mother's Day would be a good day to start this herculean process, I don't know but now we have to live with that decision. Sigh.

I think there were three main reasons why we started when we started:

1. I was off this past weekend
2. Poopy diapers really stink
3. Huggies is no longer making (or at least Walmart is no longer carrying) size 6 diapers in the mega box.

Some might think that the reason we decided to potty train Tucker is that he is three. THREE YEARS OLD. But no, that had nothing to do with it.

Starting out we knew that this ridiculous endeavor would not be easy. If there's anything that we've learned about being parents is that neither one of your children are the same and don't let your kids see you naked; they start asking questions and pointing things out and then you've started down the slippery slope of explaining the difference between boys and girls and why mommies have "owies" once a month. So we knew that Tucker and potty training would be completely different than Tyson and potty training. If nothing else we knew that while Tyson is very much a pleaser, Tucker is much more of a barrel-his-way thru and hope everything is still standing when he's done. This would be a perfect interlude into the fact that Tucker is three and weighs half a pound less than his 4.5 year old brother.

Friday night we started talking to Tucker about using the potty the next morning. Tucker has been more than adamant about NOT wanting to use the potty and quite frankly was more than happy to stay in diapers. (At this point I'm kinda siding with underwear being overrated) But we had a trick up our sleeve. Something that Tucker just can't stand.

Tyson getting something that Tucker doesn't.

You see, Tyson got a new bike helmet. Tucker did not. And Tucker has been beside himself with jealousy. And Stuart and I are crafty if anything else. We knew that Tyson getting a new helmet would drive Tucker bonkers. We completely used that against him.

Apparently A+B=C. Who knew all that high school math would come into play when parenting?

All we had to do was dangle that new helmet in front of Tucker's face and he was done. Big boy underwear and all.

Unfortunately, where it only took Tyson a day (seriously a single day) to potty train, Tucker's still working on it.

Saturday was a complete trail and error. We had some great successes but were left drained and wondering why in the world we had done this to ourselves (and our floor). Sunday was a bit more error than trail. Apparently the fog of having a new helmet had cleared and Tucker realized what we were really trying to do. Monday seemed to be better and Tuesday was a testament to aim.

Here's where I bust our my trump card. I'm a G-I-R-L. I don't have to deal with things like aim and sitting or standing and weird appendages. Stuart is a B-O-Y. By default I don't understand and therefore Stuart is responsible for all things AIM.

The good news is that we are wearing underwear all day and the majority of pottying is done in the potty (just some word knowledge-"potty" is the training potty, "toilet" is the actual toilet that flushes). Also good news is that all this pottying is going on before we get new carpet. Point for us.

Thanks to Amy for rubbing it in that her sweet little, not even two year old girl totally beat my boy in the potty training race! (But really congrats to you!) And Jennifer, hang in there!

Oh and today is this guy's birthday.

My big six year old.

And one more thing. Yesterday Luke turned one. ONE. God is good!