confession: I suck at potty training

dress | bag | sunnies | sandals | cuff | earrings
Bear's shirt | similar shorts | sandals

The funny thing about being a parent is that some days it feels incredibly easy, as if your child woke up with an invisible halo and decided to let you enjoy life stress-free for a brief moment. Other days, said child decides to wake up with every intent of punishing you for procreating and bringing an innocent life into this circus of a world. Parenthood is such an unpredictable journey, full of temper tantrums and monumental failures. I felt somewhat prepared going into the job, as I've been a nanny in the past and treated my baby brother growing up as if he were my own. One thing I was in no way ready for, however, was the literal sh*t show known as potty training.

I have friends that told me "It'll be a breeze! We tackled it in one day!" and "Oh the three day method is the only way to go. Tommy did it over the weekend and he hasn't had one accident since". So I pinned eighty-seven Potty Training 101 posts on Pinterest and bought every book on the topic Amazon had to offer (like "Oh Crap! Potty Training: Everything Modern Parents Need to Know to Do It Once and Do It Right"). Let me tell you guys firsthand: big fat waste of time and money. And those moms who bragged about their children's switch from diapers to underwear in less than a day? This is a mystery to me that I will forever envy and possibly never truly believe. Please teach me your ways.

For us, potty training has not been such a walk in the park. I can finally say that at 3 1/2 years old, Bear is fully potty-trained. I can also say that just last week, he pooped all over the entryway hall like a puppy dog. Accidents still occasionally happen around here, and Zach & I choose to not make a big deal about it. Bear's learning, we're learning, and perhaps this is God's way of telling us that we couldn't handle having an indoor pet. Our child's been known to pee in the office trash can, which had to be thrown away due to foul smell, and we've thrown away countless pairs of Ninja Turtle underwear due to skid marks (that's describing it lightly). The entire transition out of diapers was not an easy one for our family, as Bear had no desire whatsoever to ever stop wearing Pampers and I was lazy enough to enable it for a very long time.

The hardest part as a parent was hearing the conflicting views of others. On the one hand, I had people telling me, "Don't worry about it if he's not ready. You can't force it and when he's ready, it'll happen overnight. It's a mistake to try and make him potty before he's ready". This sounded pretty good to me, as I didn't really mind changing diapers and asking "Do you need to pee?" every three seconds seemed very unappealing. But other friends and family members started to say things like, "He's not potty trained yet? He's too big to be in diapers". Which, in a sense, rang true. We had to start buying size 7 diapers (who knew they even make those?) just to fit our big sweet boy. Zach nearly fell out of the recliner laughing one night when I tried on one of Bear's diapers only to find that it fit. Like, it really fit. It was pretty comfy, too. I can see Bear's resistance to switch to whitey tighties.

I wish I could say that we had some mind-blowing "aha" moment that triggered a switch in our son's desire to use the potty, but no such thing ever really happened. We did the pull-up thing for awhile, which he treated just like a diaper. We tried the naked method at home, which clearly didn't transfer over well to public outings. In the end, it just took Bear a lot of time to really be ready to use the potty. We didn't force it, but we did start encouraging more once we realized size 7 is the biggest diaper they make. He still has the occasional accident, puppy dog style, but diapers haven't been worn in several months and Zach & I are enjoying the hefty pay raise.

This all to say, potty-training is no easy task. At least not with a little Bear. If you find yourself in the same boat and wondering where in the world to find size 8 diapers, just take a deep breath and know that you are not alone. I'm pretty sure there are many moms besides you and me that have experienced this very same struggle, and we all get through it with a little patience and a lot of Resolve Carpet Cleaner. It doesn't mean that our children are less advanced than others; Bear knew the entire alphabet by fifteen months. And to him, P-O-O-P was in no rush to flush. Maybe this makes me a lazy mom, and I certainly deserve the blame if it's to fall on anyone. But one thing's for sure: I love my little boy with everything I have whether he's in Pampers or Ninja Turtle underwear. As long as he knows that, I'm doing something right.

xo, Britt