Adventures in Potty Training, day 547

Today was a soggy morning. And no, it's not raining.

Every once in awhile, both my children wake up drenched. So I start my day stripping beds and throwing smelly clothes into the wash.

Like today. Fantabulous.

Little man did not take to potty training well. He got a later start than most because silly me wanted him to be able to SAY potty before we attacked that challenge. That wasn't until after he turned 3, and I suddenly went into psycho-PT overdrive because I had a deadline - he and I BOTH needed him to start preschool. For sanity's sake.

We tried everything we could think of - M&Ms, stickers, jumping up and down, and some negative reinforcement too. The pull-ups were too gosh-darn easy.

So we went cold turkey. I put him in underwear. I was prepared to clean up whatever puddles he left behind, because I was pretty sure my little neat freak would do just that - freak - when he got his pants wet.

It only took about a week. Score 1 for Mommy. We had accidents occasionally for awhile, and still do, but we are miles ahead of where we were a year ago.

We got in under the wire for school, but I didn't even stress about nighttime. He has been in pull-ups at night for a long, long while now. I have had many friends of little boys tell me they waited until their kid was dry in the morning before taking away the pull-up. (And yes, I understand diapers would hold more, but my kids move up in diapers QUICKLY, so I can't find any that would fit him.)

Hubby got tired of status quo, and last week, while I was out with friends, he decided to change the policy on me. Cold turkey worked before, right?

Note: I am not opposed to trying something new, because obviously what we're doing now isn't working, but really? Coming home to "Hey, he's in underwear tonight" - uh, not cool. Some warning next time would be nice.

So we woke him at about 11 when we went to bed to see if he was wet. He was. So we changed him and the bed and hit the hay ourselves. Next morning? Drenched. It continued like that for 2 nights, although one of those nights he was dry-ish at 11, but every morning was the same. Soaked and smelly.

And it's not just a little puddle, an "oops." No, it's like somebody poured an entire glass of liquid over the top half of his bed. I'm pretty sure my kids must be part camel. We have long since stopped giving Nathaniel anything to drink after dinner, so I'm really not sure where it's coming from. And he pees all flippin' day too.

So I feel like the bad guy when I'm angrily changing sheets and he pipes in, "I so sorry Mommy. I don't mean to pee in my bed."

Ugh.

After 2 days of me washing lots of sheets, Hubby surrendered. Pull-ups have returned. I'm not glad that we had to, but it sure is nice to not be washing sheets every day. I know he'll get there eventually. And I am already trying to start Leah so I'm not stressing about having her ready for school in another 2 years. She's been avoiding the little potty I got for her like the plague.

They won't graduate high school in pull-ups, right?