I never thought I'd be attempting to potty-train an 18-month old, especially not a boy. Yet we seem to be beginning. I first bought a little potty chair for Ian before his 1st birthday because since he was 10 months old he'd go #2 in the big toilet almost every morning if I offered him the chance, and I thought it would be easier than holding him on the seat. Then I got pregnant and felt so miserable I got out of the habit. I didn't want to even try potty-training until after the baby came since I thought Ian might just regress and want to go back to diapers at that point anyway. So I figured we'd wait until at least his 2nd birthday in February.
Then in the last few weeks he's really started showing signs that he knows what his body's doing. He tugs on his diaper and tells me, "Poopy!" When I check then, it's always either dirty or very wet. Sometimes he seems to be telling me as he's going, like he wants me to do something before he messes his diaper. And every night as we run his bath water we'll have him sit on the potty and it's a rare event that he doesn't go.
So I decided I better take advantage of his seeming readiness, rather than ignoring it and regretting it later after I'd sent him the message that it was better just to go in his diaper. I bought another little potty to keep in the living room to have on hand while he's playing. Until this morning he'd just enjoyed sitting on it but hadn't done anything else. I don't know if it was playing with the recently potty-trained Jack Webster yesterday or what, but this morning he was all gung-ho about the potty.
First he sat on it just playing with a little car, and the next thing I know, he's standing up and he'd gone #2. So I dumped it in the toilet, let him flush it down, and then put a diaper on him, figuring that was enough success for one morning. He promptly sat back down on the potty even with his diaper on. But then 5 minutes later, he popped up and came to me tugging on the front of his diaper. I checked to see if he was wet, but no. Could he be telling me something? I took the diaper off and let him sit back down naked. Lo and behold, he went! It was only a little, but I was pretty shocked. I figured he wasn't really done, so I put the diaper back on him and sure enough, a few minutes later he was wet. I changed him and set him down to run around and play.
Not a minute later he started crying. I couldn't figure out what was wrong, so I just picked him up to cuddle. His diaper was wet again! It was the only thing I could think of that was bothering him. Another change, and he was a happy camper.
So what's up with all this? It seems early for a little guy to be so insistent about using the potty and getting upset about wet pants. I'm not complaining, but I do wonder if it will last. I'll try to be consistent, and I guess we'll just see. Could it be I won't have two in diapers after all?
