Somewhere along the line, be it from friends or books or mere wishful thinking, I got the idea that I wouldn’t have to think about potty training until Simon was 2 ½, and probably closer to three. This notion gave me great comfort; no one seems to find potty training easy or enjoyable, and diapers are easy.
I still don’t think we’re ready to train full-on, but Simon is showing signs-lots of them-that he’s approaching readiness and is ready to start pre-training if such a thing exists. We’ll call it potty-awareness. Besides the usual signs of physical readiness, things like how long he can stay dry, whether he walks well, and whether he meets a minimum age requirement, he’s letting us know that he’s interested in and aware of what’s going on down there.
Which isn’t to say that he always gets it right. Yesterday he told Evie that he pooped four times and he had. The day before, he was less clear with me. He’d get a certain look, and I’d ask if he was pooping. Once he said yes, and once he said no. Interestingly enough, both times he’d answer correctly if I subsequently asked if there was poop in his diaper. At the end of the day, for poop number three, he looked up at me and said “Poop! Poop! Poop!” in a tone that was quite urgent. And when I asked if he was pooping, he nodded his head frenetically.
He’s also started to talk about who poops, but I can’t tell if he’s telling me or asking. He’ll look up at me with a very serious face and say: “Mommy, poop. Daddy, poop. Bubbie, poop.” This last one cracks me up because it’s the one he’s the most likely to repeat. Why the fascination with my mom’s possibly pooping is beyond me. Maybe it’s because she doesn’t live here so he can’t barge in on her the way he does with us. Maybe he just like the way the word “Bubbie” sounds. I don’t know, but it makes me laugh.
Matt and I have talked about the toilet and been open about what happens there from early days. For the past few weeks, we’ve been escorting Simon to the bathroom after we change his diaper and showing him where the poop goes. He thinks this is a fun game, says “bye, poop!” when we deposit his diaper’s contents into the toilet, and then wants to flush.
I’m quite nervous about this next step and don’t want to push for too much too soon. But I think it may be time to buy some underwear, buy a potty chair, read a few books, and set the stage for training. Who knows, maybe he’ll be trained in a month or so. Or maybe he’ll lose interest and we’ll drop the whole thing until spring or summer. Either way, I have nothing to lose (I hope!) by exposing him to the process now while he’s interested and eager to please.