Our Journey through Potty Training [with Comforts for Baby]

Potty training is a real hoot. Truly, it's a gem of parenthood.  There are so many different ways to teach little people how to pee in the potty. There is the “wait and pee” and “potty  planner” or the “eyes on the prize” or the “Panty Raid”. Let’s be honest, cutesy (and kind of disturbing) names don’t make the ensuing mess and drama any less real. Guys, there is gonna be pee. There is gonna be poop. There is gonna be a lot of mop buckets. But there is also help and hope on this journey.

My son might be one of the most natural rule followers I know. He is meticulous with cleaning his room, excellent at school, always colors in the lines, just aims to be awesome at whatever he sets out todo. When he was just 18 months old, he hopped out of the tub, ran to his Elmo potty and never looked back. There were some issues with him building confidence to go, shall we say, number 2. But we ditched wearing diapers, and switched to underwear without thinking twice.

My daughter might be one of the most creative and free spirited children I know. She intentionally wears mismatched shoes on the wrong feet. She colors a rainbow on her page with no concern for the lines. She dances like no one is watching, and laughs with her whole body. When she was fifteen months old she hopped out of the tub and pooped on the potty--and then didn't do that again for a LONG TIME.

Reese was more stubborn than her brother about potty training. Not that wouldn’t use the potty like we were teaching, but at times it was like she couldn’t be bothered to stop her game, her lunch, her…creativity to go to the bathroom. When she turned eighteen months (the age her brother was when he mastered this endeavor), transitioning her straight out of diapers to underwear just wasn’t what she needed. The kindest solution that we learned with Reese, that I'm very glad we stuck to, was simply this: TIME. 

Sounds simple, doesn't it? But really, I stopped stressing out, I stopped bribing with sticker charts, I stopped giving myself straight anxiety at the thought of accidents because I just knew. I knew that Reese was different, and that as independent as she longed to be, that potty training would be OKAY. It's amazing what you remember in your child's lifetime and the things that you don't. I have friends ask me what age we started solids and with my son, I remember that he was six months old exactly. But with her, I have no idea?! I do however, remember potty training with BOTH of them. 

Pretty shortly after Reese turned two, she announced that she wanted to be done with diapers. Instead of underwear [which we immediately went to with our son], we let her pick out Pull-Ups. She has always been a girly girl, and instantly drawn to everything princess related. Thanks to Comforts™ Diapers we found the happy medium, and were able to purchase their Princess Themed training pants (which she LOVED). Within several weeks of wearing training pants, Reese was able to transition to little girl underwear during the day; however, at nap and bedtime, she still slept in a pull-up. The Comforts for Toddler Training Pants that we use, have really made potty training engaging for Reese. She loves the princess characters, and the product itself is thin and comfortable. They are simple for her to pull up and down, and the flowers fade when wet, letting me know if she had an accident. 

To go along with the Comforts Pull-Ups that she wears, we mostly have used their Sensitive wipes. I'm not sure at what point we'll stop purchasing wipes, I like to always keep a package in the car for meals on the go and for when and if accidents happen! These ones in particular smell very refreshing, are gentle on my kids' skin, and they serve many purposes beyond cleaning up toddler bottoms-- like teaching Reese how to care for her baby dolls for instance ;) 

Now our big 4-year old only relies on a pull-up only when she sleeps at night, and they're easy enough for her to pull down, put herself on the potty, and go BACK to bed. (Motherhood goals, right?!) Thank you, Comforts for Baby brand for helping us through this process and for all my readers, these products are exclusively at Kroger® Company family of stores. You can check them out and read more about Comforts on their Facebook page here.

Mommy, Come Look at My Poop

'I'm sorry, what?!' is probably what you're thinking after reading my title. And I don't blame you. But if anyone wants to know what the current season looks like in the Glass household, it can literally be summed up by those six words. 

When you are a parent and you have begun potty training, I promise you there will be an orchestra of applause when your Little One decides to finally GO on the toilet. Pee is good and great but poop, that's a whole other story. Especially for my son, who was honest to God terrified to go #2 on the toilet for almost an entire YEAR after he was regularly using it for pee, (and he started doing that as soon as he turned two); any time he mustered up the courage, we would run in to the bathroom and cheer, "Yay!! Look at your poop! You did SO good, Buddy!!" or something along those lines. 

It wasn't much different for our daughter, though pooping for her was never even close as big of a deal for her. We still applauded and cheered her on and encouraged her to keep using the potty because she was such a big girl. Mommy and Daddy were SO proud, and we're still super ecstatic when after nap or bed there is no nasty brown stuff in their diapers! Poop--it's a BIG DEAL! And it'll be a GOOD day here when we can officially kiss diapers goodbye. 

So this summer, ya'll know there's been a ton of sickness here. There's been lots of cleaning, organizing, de-cluttering, disinfecting, and apparently, pooping. A few weeks ago my husband and I laughed out loud after our almost 3-year old daughter used the bathroom. She had indeed gone #2 and BOTH kids, Lord help us, will yell, "I POOOOOPED!" from the potty because they obviously still need help wiping. (LOL Guys, parenthood, it's SO glorious!) I was the closest and I exclaimed something like, "Wow, Reese! That's a big one! Good JOB!" and she screamed at the top of her lungs, "DAD! DAAAD! COME LOOK AT MY POOP!" 

"When did our life come to this?!" he joked after going to admire his daughter's bowel movement. "Mommy, come look at my poop, that is SERIOUSLY what this summer has consisted of!" I laughed. 

And then we were cleaning the living room. He moved the couch so I could vacuum behind it. "Hold on a sec," he said. "There's something brown and kind of gunky there we need to clean up." I went to get paper towels. "It's probably chocolate," he said. "Or gosh! I HOPE it's chocolate?!?" ONLY in a house of toddlers, could this be ones' life. Chocolate? Or poop? Only one way to find out. 

Lord have mercy. What does your average day look like with young ones? I mean seriously, the STUFF we hear ourselves say that you just cannot even fathom until you are wearing those shoes!!

For instance: 

-Don't bite your brother's butt. 
-Stop threatening to hit your daddy in the penis.
-No, you may not pee in the bathtub. 
-Do NOT fart on me! 
-Do not put your head in the toilet EVER again. (my recent favorite)

I mean, there's probably a hundred different Pinterest boards that all consist of the funny things kids say, but it's so true. In all honesty, wiping butts is NOT glorious. Cleaning up vomit is every parents nightmare, teaching your son how to aim IN to the toilet to pee is a chore, explaining to your daughter why she CANNOT and SHOULD NOT pee OUTSIDE all the time is just absolutely not something you ever think of when you're in the beginning stages of, "Aww won't it be fun to start a family someday? A mini you, a little me, all mixed into one? It'll be SO cute and so fun." No. Not. at. ALL. But if you're a parent than you are right here with me in saying I really can't think of a great blessing than being Mom. 

Sure, it'll be a good day when they learn how to wipe their own butts. And if I know my family, we will forever be comparing poop sizes... but good Lord how deep they love and how hard they make us laugh! Leave a comment below with something funny your child has said or even something YOU said as a kid that your parents still tease you about. 

"Dad, did they call you Dad when you were a kid?" -Sean [my big brother] 
 

These are the Days

Three years of changing diapers. That's 1,095 very long, very messy days. Our son decidedbefore he was twenty-three months old that M&M's were enough motivation to pee on a potty and he hasn't looked back since. He's only been wearing a diaper for his nap and nighttime sleep and he has been a bathroom champ.

Her on the other hand- well at eighteen months she looked me square in the face and said, "Uhoh... poop! and by golly she actually went on the toilet! We all cheered and screamed and shouted loud HOORAY's but, that was the last time. Reese is now two and we have been telling her for so long, "Just tell us when you have to use it. You can do it!" She has been the toddler who stands in a corner quietly and when I look over to say, "REESE, what are you doing....??" she sheepishly rolls her eyes and says, "I poooopin." Noooooooooo!

One cold afternoon this week I had the privilege of staying home with the kids since our poor sitter was sick with the flu. It was in the single digits outside and I thought, "What a great day to just stay inside!" Reese woke and there was something different about her; it was like she had slept and gone through a major milestone. She was rambling and spitting out words faster than I could understand and somewhere in one of them I heard, "I go potty..." I decided to take her pants and diaper completely off, just to see, and sure enough she ran to the bathroom on our second floor. She sat on the toilet like she had been doing it her whole life and after she successfully went, she shouted for her big brother. Pierson exclaimed, "REESIE CUP! You PEED! You DID IT! You get a sticker on your sticker chart!" and Reese sat there, clapping her hands as she yelled, "YAY!!!!!"  After that, she went on the potty ALL day. SO much that she completed her entire sticker chart.

The next day our sitter was still sick, so my husband stayed home. I told myself not to get too excited as I know many kids will use the potty a few times but then quit again. A couple hours into the work day I received a text message: "Reese just took herself to the potty and peed!" And then again, and then a third time. And all of a sudden it dawned on me- this is the last baby we will ever be potty training. I thought back to the countless diapers our Diaper Genies have held and I realized, soon we get to throw those nasty garbage pails away! And just like that, this chapter to baby raising is closing. No, I don't expect to be rid of diapers entirely anytime soon, but I do know we'll need to buy less and less. And after this milestone, another one will begin and end. And sooner than my heart wants to admit, these 'baby' years will be over. 

Suddenly it is sinking in. The hundreds of time a stranger at the Grocery has told me, "Embrace it. Cherish these moments. These are the days." There has been many times I have almost laughed in their face. As my two toddlers have exploded into simultaneous fits while riding in those god awful Cars carts, I have almost said aloud, "Really?! THESE are the days? THIS moment I am supposed to cherish?!" But it goes beyond than that; than the public tantrums or the loud chaos that makes up our home. And it goes deeper than the many poopy diapers I have changed- even at one point when I had two babes, 15 months apart from each other, needing them changed what seemed constantly. 

These memories are fleeting. 'The days are long but the years short,' said by author Gretchen Rubin, rings so true for me. I remember bringing Reese home like it was yesterday. The doctor placing her in my arms, the span of time she refused to nap longer than 45 minutes straight, when I questioned if I was doing anything right, and now I am taking her to the toy store to pick something for this huge accomplishment. I am so proud and my heart is so full. And as long as the days are, as messy as they may be, I believe so sincerely that these really are the days.