Potty training.

This is the front of my fridge....

When Skyler and Nevin both turned three we started potty training. I had tried to train Skyler at two but it didn't go over well. The more I researched the more I realized boys do better later. He had just gone from first born to big brother and the "terrible twos" were setting in. I waited a year and he was pretty easy at three. With Nevin I didn't attempt until the summer after he turned three. By the time school started he was pretty much in undies. I figured I would do the same with Gavyn. 

The fall before he was going to be three I realized he would be starting school in February right after his birthday. That way he wouldn't lose time with therapy, he would transition from in home to school seamlessly. Nevin had been different because we moved and... That's another blog. I thought maybe he would be ready and we could try, take it easy! That was a no go. We tried a couple different times from the fall to the spring and it was apparent he was not ready. 

Once he started preschool they would take him in the bathroom with all the other kids and he would sit on the toilet. I was encouraged. I figured once summer hit and his two big brothers did summer school we would take four weeks to concentrate on potty training and be good to go. 

Wrong.

I'm sitting here, eight months later, with an almost five year old, who literally just decided two weeks ago he would be potty trained. Yikes. Those eight months tried my patience like no other. 

The front of my fridge is a huge sticker rewards chart and Gavyn's daily picture schedule. 

We tried smiley face charts. Sticker charts. M&M's. High fives. Hugs. Calling dad. Anything. Everything. Nothing. Nothing worked. 

The worst part about it was his attitude. I felt verbally assaulted and abused each potty trip. He would yell. Scream. Kick. Hit. Cry. It was awful. It was also unpredictable. Some days I could ask him to go potty or his timer would go off and he would happily or at least quietly go. Other days or times it was the fit. He did great sitting on the potty at school but not going. I never heard the words, "I need to go pee." from him. It just wasn't registering in his brain. Literally.

Now I know that it wasn't registering, because after his last surgery it slowly got better. The mood evened out. The trying got easier. And finally two Monday's ago he said, "I need to go pee." I calmly told him that was great and let's get to the potty. It continued all day and never stopped. Crazy. 

It wasn't fun. There was no joy in it. It was exhausting. It did grow my patience. A lot. And honestly, I was so excited when he finally got it, but mostly I was just relieved. I don't think I could have lasted another week of being screamed at and him not going. I feel like it's a dumb thing to say, but teaching him to use the toilet might have been one of the hardest things he and I have done together. And man, have we done a lot together. Every other obstacle seemed short lived compared to the last eight months. And I'm just so glad that chapter is done.