Taunted by potty
According to my 6 year old daughter, her Baby Brother is now transitioning from baby-toddler to toddler-baby as he turns 2. She understands her reasoning even if I don’t, but what this meant was that we had our 2 year old well-child visit and the doctor gave us the go-ahead to begin potty training. “Sometime between 2 and 3 is a good time to start”, she said. The hand-out I was given said to watch out for the signs of readiness which include dry naps and grunting or straining after meals. Hmm, I handn’t realized that grunting was one of the signs to watch out. Grunting.
We got home and had dinner, after which Baby Brother proceeded to grunt. “Do you want potty?”, I asked. He ignored me. Afterwards, the smell confirmed that he had pooped. “Next time, you tell mommy you need potty. Okay?”, I told him in a pleasant but matter-of-fact tone. He looked like he understood. Perhaps, it is indeed potty training time. I allowed myself to hope. I recall that recently, he has been telling me after he goes, at least, most of the time. This is definitely an improvement on when he comfortably sat in his stink. Hope.
The following day, we have dinner, he has post-dinner snack, he has milk, then changes into PJs and fresh diapers. Then he begins to grunt. Yes, he’s grunting, he’s ready for potty. I intercede. “Let’s go to the potty”, I put on a sweet voice. “No!”, he barks at me. At the same time grunting increases, he’s pushing and he does not like my interference. “Potty. You poopoo in potty.”, I’m getting firmer. He gets more aggressive. “NO!!” This time his legs are shaking due to the magnitude of the job. Then he’s done.
“Next time, you poopoo in potty. Okay?” He smiles at me. His ordeal over, he becomes his pleasant self again. I lead him into the bathroom where we get him out of his one piece PJ. I extract the diaper. I show him where the contents should go next time. I ask if there’s more, if he wants to sit. He shakes his head and tells me no. I clean him up and grab a new diaper. As I pick up the clean diaper, he shrieks, “potty”. He decides to give the potty a try afterall. He sits and he sings. He looks very happy. I wait, I sing with him, I wait. But nothing. “Get down?”, I ask. He says no. I walk out of the bathroom and he yells out, “done.” I pick up the diaper and he scrambles back on the potty again, excitedly chanting “no no no.” Ha! I see his game plan - he thinks so long as he sits on the potty, he can remain butt-naked, a state he likes.
Enough of taunting this mom with potty hopes. I grab him and strap a new diaper on him. I’m done till he begins his next grunt.


