Potty Training Boot Camp!

Okay, so Friday I decided to start trying to potty train Sam. I decided the best course of action would be a Boot Camp course of action. The following is our experience. Some parts may be graphic. Not for the faint hearted!

My tactic was simple. Put Sam in big boy pants, fill him up with liquid and then either put him on the potty, let him pee on himself a few times or move him to the potty when he started to pee.

I figured after a day or so he would then "get it." HA!

I could tell quite early Friday, things were not going to be easy. Sam would cry every time I put him on the potty. And I'm not just talking about little sobs. He was truly upset. He would be on there for half an hour with pee pee trickling out in drips and drops. Then I'd say, "good boy" when there was enough that I thought he'd let it all out... he'd stand up and pee everywhere! A few times I managed to get the potty to him and sit him down at the end, but we still had pee pee all over the place ... yes, I will need to clean the carpets when this is all over.

We spent the weekend in the garden, planting flowers, sorting out the rest of the leaves, planting grass seed. It was great to be outside so if Sam peed, at least he could multi-task and water the plants at the same time!

By Saturday and Sunday, he had stopped crying when he was on the potty, but the story was the same otherwise. And, he'd added crying when he peed on himself. I kept telling myself this was progress, but inside I was crying too. Josh had been so easy!

Sam could not get the hang of "letting go" and just peeing on command. Only when he was beyond full and could not hold it any longer could he actually pee.

I was not really looking forward to another day of tears, struggles and stubborn behavior... from either of us! But, he has made some sort of breakthrough this morning. He has actually not peed on the carpet once today, he peed on the potty on his own will, and not cried at all! He's still not told me when he has to pee, but when I see him doing the pee pee dance, I put him on the potty and he goes!

I know we have a long way to go, but I'm so excited to reach this little milestone. He has school tomorrow morning, so we'll have to see how he goes at school, but I'm hopeful!