It's been an exciting couple of days around here. You see, Samuel is signed up to start preschool next month, but in order for him to go he has to be potty-trained. He has shown very little interest this summer and last week I decided that it wasn't going to happen, that I was going to have to accept that he wouldn't be able to go to preschool yet. Now let me take a minute to explain why I think preschool would be really good for Samuel right now. Asher, as the baby, is in no hurry to learn any words. He still mostly squeeks and points at the things he wants, a language his brothers seem to understand, but Mommy doesn't have the same comprehension or appreciation for this language. I have no worries about this though, I know he will talk when he's ready. The thing is, Samuel has started reverting to squeeking too, now that I cannot handle. I think he would benefit from his very own big-boy social environment.
Back to potty training, Jeremiah and I's approach with the older two boys has mostly been a policy of doing nothing, un-potty trainers you might call us. We've never decided to start training, never set a timer, never bought a pull-up. Isaac and Spencer each around their third birthdays decided it was time and within a couple of weeks, went from full-time diapers to full-time underwear, now thats the way to do it!(as a disclaimer, I understand that this isn't physically possible for all kids) Ideally, we'd want it to be same for Samuel, no stress, no lengthy process.
Monday afternoon, Samuel, of his own accord, sat down on his little toilet and pottied. Not to be drawn into his obvious web of teasing and mockery, I gave him due applause, and went on my way. He re-enacted this event a few times that evening and so first thing Tuesday morning after changing a messy diaper, I put him back into underwear and all day he used his little toilet. So come Tuesday night, we're faced with the question, do we let him try wearing underwear through the night? He stayed dry through his nap, which I didn't expect, so I feel like he will sense a lack of confidence in him if I don't let him keep his underwear on at bedtime. And so it became an experiment of sorts. If he can stay dry through the night, two things will happen. 1) I will know that he is physically capable of doing so and 2) I will officially be excited. My first surprise came before he ever fell asleep, when he came out and went #2 in his toilet for the first time ever. Second surprise came around 3a when I heard him come out of his room and whimper, and when I went to him to help him get his wet underwear off, I realized he was having trouble finding his toilet. We found it, he pottied and headed back to bed. Wow!
By this morning, it came as no surprise that he woke up dry. Now I am excited! Preschool, here we come!
We didn't go make it very far this morning, the trail we followed was along a stream with lots of boulders, beautiful, but hard for the little ones.
