My approach to potty training my boys has been pretty casual. I've had my fair share of struggles with both Ryan and Lucas, and I didn't want to make potty training one more struggle. I started training Ryan before he was 3 but it turned into such a big fight that I realized it was too soon for him. I wanted him to be ready but he just wasn't. So I finally potty trained him when he was 3 years and 3 months.....just in time for him to join Awana.
This time around I was in no hurry to start struggling with Lucas over using the potty. Because honestly? I struggle with Lucas over everything else. Everything.
BUT alas, Lucas has to learn how to use the toilet before he starts preschool in just two months! I knew that with Lucas things could either go really really right or really really wrong. That's just how he is....extreme.
I don't want to get ahead of myself, but I definitely see Lucas being fully potty trained by the end of the summer.
Lucas absolutely loves wearing underwear and hates wearing diapers, so that was a good start. We went out and bought new underpants for him, and he adores choosing which ones to wear each day. He goes through each one and tells me a story about what Lightning McQueen is doing in each scene on the underpants. Hey if it helps him, I'm all ears!
He has had some accidents so far, but he has done amazingly well at knowing when to use the potty. The thing about Lucas is that you can't make him do something he doesn't want to do. You just can't. We've been butting heads as I tell him to sit on the potty and he doesn't want to. The few times I have really stood my ground with him haven't ended well. So I am learning to trust him. The other day after a particularly tough battle over the potty, I was feeling so fed up with this whole potty training business. But then an hour later Lucas ran up to me and exclaimed "I have to go potty Mommy!" And sure enough, his underpants were still dry and he proudly sat on the potty and did his business.
And then tonight I was fixing dinner and I called out to the boys to use the bathroom and wash their hands for dinner. Ryan absolutely ignored me, but Lucas used the toilet, flushed, and washed his hands all by himself! Lucas has always been very independent, and potty training is no different.
One thing I have learned through this process is how much Lucas likes verbal praise. Ryan is funny because I can tell he gets uncomfortable when I am too over-the-top with my compliments and words of praise. I get it because I can be the same way. But Lucas absolutely eats it up. When I tell him how good he is doing his eyes light up and he jumps up and down and hugs me. He loves hearing how amazing he is!
