Potty Learning

Our progress with potty learning took a big hit in Hawaii. Those who have been reading this blog may remember that Captain Adorable was dry almost all the time with a few accidents here and there before we left. He made it all the way from Baltimore to Hawaii with no pee accidents (he did poop during our layover in Houston, but he did it in a diaper he was wearing at the time--very convenient!). All through our time in Maui (oh, Maui, how wonderful that was!) he was on track and peeing and even pooping in the potty. However, after a few days on the beach in Oahu, going to the potty dropped by the way-side. He started having pee and poop accidents all the time. Every time. Sigh. Of course, he did this in front of my brother and my SIL, who already thought he was dirty...I felt sad and frustrated that my son was losing his skills that we had both worked hard for and I felt sad and embarrassed that my brother and his wife thought of my son as dirty and filthy.

While we were in Tennessee, Captain Adorable stopped using the potty because, well, the toilet seat in my parents' house is weird and it caused a situation where his butt got pinched (one morning while I was trying to get him to sit on the potty seat he looked me in the eye, pointed to his potty seat (which he was sitting on) and said emphatically "Pottyseat bites! Bites!" I stopped even trying to put him on it. He wore Pull-Ups the most of the time we were there...and the times I did put him in undies there were always accidents. I became more discouraged.

In Houston he started to fight sitting on the potty. Or he would refuse to pee in the potty (even when I knew he had to go!) and would then peed in his undies as soon as he got off the toilet. I did insist that we try to keep him in cloth instead of going to the Pull-Ups and more and more often (including the incredibly (hour plus) long wait for the oncologist) he was dry.

Here we are, back home again, and I am once again accepting that I have a bunch of work ahead of me before we are going to get back to where we were when we left for Hawaii on August 26. However!!! Good news! Both yesterday and today he POOPED IN THE POTTY! So I am feeling hopeful again, despite the 4 pairs of peed-in undies today. Weirdly, he only had one accident while we were out of the house (we went to the Baltimore Zoo today) but 3 pee accidents here at home. Anyhow, I am once again prepared to expect accidents. This helps me to be patient and to persevere. I trust that Captain Adorable Can and Will get back to using the potty.