So . . . guess what hasn’t been so bad?
Potty training.
Seriously. It’s almost been a non-event. I think we mostly have the “Naked Summer” to thank for that. My parents’ house is two miles out of town in western Nebraska, and they don’t have too many neighbors . . . and the neighbors they do have aren’t phased by a toddler running around naked for two months straight.
I should probably stop here and warn my readers that I’m about to talk about my toddler’s urination habits. If this is not your kind of reading material, you should probably go watch this instead, because it totally blew my mind and has nothing to do with pee. Have a good day.
I have a friend who had great success with the no pants/total nudity potty training approach, and I think this was just the freer, more natural, frolic-through-the-meadows-version of that.
At Mom and Dad’s, Charlie was naked pretty much the entire time. He would just refuse to keep his clothes on. After all, the dogs don’t have to wear clothes, right? At some point, though, he started running to the bathroom and sitting on the toilet when he had to take care of business.
I couldn’t believe it. Sometimes, I’d look up from my book and realize that he wasn’t playing with his toys anymore. He’d just vanish and I’d look all over, only to find he had climbed on the toilet and was doing his thing.
Now, if he was outside playing with the dogs . . . that was an entirely different situation. Let’s just say that Nature dictated Charlie’s peeing habits when he was under the open sky.
When we moved into the new house, things regressed a little bit, and every once in a while I’d realize that the soothing “running water” sound I was hearing was, in fact, not a cute little zen-pool, but Charlie peeing behind the couch or under the kitchen table. That was not so awesome.
Eventually, though, Charlie’s urge to strip all of his clothing lessened slightly (thank you, Fall) and the discomfort of peeing into his underwear and pants helped him understand the term “accident” a little better. Accidents still happen every once in a while around here, but it’s usually when we’re having too much fun or we just didn’t quite make it to the toilet.
One of the best decisions we’ve made when it comes to potty training is switching to cloth pull-ups. We still use our cloth diapers at night and regular underwear when we’re at home during the day. When we go out, however, we’ve started using cloth pull-ups, or “trainers.” These have just worked so well. We hit the jackpot when we heard about a local sale called“Fluff Again.” It’s basically a giant used cloth diaper consignment sale, with a few local vendors and businesses selling their wares.
Now, while some of you might be horrified at the thought of using used cloth diapers, let me just say that A) being poor, and B) using cloth diapers in the first place tends to make certain “icky” things a lot less icky. Rather than spending $15.95 on one pair of trainers, we spent $3.50. Then we washed them . . . and then we put them on Charlie . . . and it’s totally fine. He has not contracted any cooties that I can detect.
We bought about 5 pairs that were a mix of Blueberry Trainers, Fuzzibunz’ Trickle Free Trainers, and some random ones that didn’t have a brand on them. I like the Blueberries the best, but if I’m being honest it’s simply because they’re cuter. We’re happy with all of them and haven’t seemed to need more than 5 (insert happy dance inspired by the fact that we have our own washer and dryer now).
Whoah. This post turned out to be a little long-winded. Summary: I think our experience has gone so well because we let Charlie decide when he was ready. I realize not everyone has the opportunity to be at home with their kids all day, so that’s easier said than done. I’m also fully aware that when I have the new baby there’s a good chance of Charlie peeing in corners again, so I’m trying not to sound too smug. Also, cloth trainers are awesome, especially when you pay less than 4 bucks a pop.
Finally, tiny little boy briefs are freaking adorable. That is all.