Ah yes, potty training. One of those things that seems totally normal now that I am a parent, but seemed like a rather strange conversation topic before.
When we were in Corpus a few weeks ago for Emma’s birthday party there, one of Jose’s mom’s friends gave Emma a pack of pull-ups as her present. And I’ve started getting emails from Amazon advertising kid potties. Apparently, turning 2 means it’s time to tackle potty training? And I am feeling totally…well, just totally NOT motivated in that department. And while I feel mommy guilt about a lot of things, the fact that we haven’t started potty training yet — that I haven’t even THOUGHT about potty training yet — is not one of them.
We haven’t started for several reasons. The biggest is that I just don’t think she’s ready for it yet. She only announces that she’s pooped after the fact, and will sit around in a wet diaper for hours.
On top of that, diapers just don’t seem like a big deal anymore. She doesn’t need to be changed every 10 minutes like babies seem to require. And aside from an uncharacteristically bad experience at swimming lessons a couple weeks ago, changing her is quick and easy.
And on top of that, I was definitely not interested in starting potty training when the daycare didn’t do it. Room 2 didn’t even have a kid potty. But a couple weeks ago she moved up to Room 4…and the teachers said they’d start with potty stuff from day 1.
That weekend, we went to Target and got one of those little seats that fits over the normal toilet seat…and it has sat untouched ever since. I mean, she just turned 2! I don’t feel like we’re “behind” where we should be! I have little interest in forcing it, because that just seems like a recipe for a lot of stress and mess that could be minimized if we just wait a few more months.
Clearly I just don’t want to deal with this yet. Am I crazy? Or just lazy?
I’m with you. I was at a point where diapers, and changing them, weren’t a really big deal to me (except he was getting really heavy to lift on the changing table, and almost getting too tall for it!). I also purposely waited until after a trip involving airplane flights. We waited until K was about a 3y 1m and training wasn’t a big deal. There’s kind of two camps: parents that do it when they’re ready, and parents that do it when the kid is ready. I don’t have nifty statistics to quote here, but when the kid is ready is probably quicker and easier! Pay attention in the next few months to see if she’s giving you any signs, but I would say at this point, right now, you don’t need to feel guilt/pressure over training or not.
You’re not lazy, but I will say that having a potty trained child is really, really nice. I think changing 20 diapers a day is annoying me even more than staying up all night these days.
I personally think the key is to be laid back and not pushed about it. It’s easy to be laid back when you’re not in a hurry, which you obviously aren’t.
Matthew will be the first that trains while going to daycare part time, so I’m thinking I’ll just do whatever they suggest. 🙂 #2 and #3 had a really easy time training around 2 and a half. It’s good to wait until the kids are ready, but I think with our oldest we were waiting for a clearer sign and it was a big drawn out process. Good luck!