Langston’s almost three and a half. He can tell me, when he’s in the bathtub, that he needs to get out to get his diaper. He can even hold it until he gets his diaper on. He’s also the only child in the mother’s day out class who’s not potty trained. I knew it was time for potty training, even though he has no interest in using the potty. Any time we offer it to him, he firmly says, “NO!”
I’ve had it planned for a couple of weeks. This weekend was going to be the perfect time for us to potty train Langston.
We didn’t have the big kids this weekend and our calendar was surprisingly clear. Perfect, right?
Apparently Langston didn’t really like my little plan.
After a recommendation from my friend, Shannon, from Milk and Cuddles, I bought the “Oh Crap Potty Training” ebook and read it, last month, searching for as many tips as I could.
I started first thing Friday morning with Langston and took off his diaper. He ran around in a t-shirt all day.
I gave him extra juice for breakfast and once again around mid-morning.
The first time he needed to pee, he started walking around the house, holding himself. I kept telling him we needed to go to the potty and even went to set him on it, but he quickly got right back off.
I moved his little potty in to the living room and set it right in front of the TV. He’s never had any interest in sitting on it, but when I saw this, I thought we were making progress.
He didn’t sit for long, but he did go back to it several times.
Finally, he was holding himself saying, “I need a diaper” over and over. I took him to the potty and again he got right back off.
Eventually, he started to pee a little and I rushed him to the big potty and sat him on it. He cried and I told him I would help him. He yelled “no” and I practically had to hold him on the potty as pee was flying. Riverson even got hit by it because he insisted on being right in the middle of things.
Langston kept crying and when I helped him point it in to the toilet, I kept cheering for him and telling him how proud I was of him. As he finally relaxed, his crying quickly turned to happiness and pride and he finished the job, in the potty!
We hurried out of the bathroom (after I cleaned up the pee splatter) and made phone calls to his daddy and a couple of grandparents.
After Nap Time
I hoped he would come right out of his room to get me right after he woke up and we would go straight to the potty together. He DID come straight to me when he woke up, but when I went to take his diaper off, it was warm. He had just peed. Great.
I took his diaper off and gave him plenty of water. While I was sitting on the sofa, I was looking away from him for about 15 seconds when I heard something fall on the floor. He was backing away saying, “Ew, that’s gross.”
I peeked over the ottoman and saw what I feared to find. Yep, he pooped on the rug. Ugh.
I quickly went to get it cleaned up and when I came back to make sure it was all cleaned off of the rug, I stepped on the rest of what I missed, WITH MY BARE FOOT!
As I limped out of the living room to get myself cleaned up, he laughed at me. I was not amused!
By this point, Riverson was ready to get up from his nap. This made things a little harder because they wanted to run around and play. It was harder for me to watch his every move and look for signs that he needed to go potty.
Nevertheless, I took him to sit on the potty several times over the next few hours, but he just kept getting right back off after about 45 seconds.
He continued to walk around holding himself.
The boys were both sitting on the sofa watching a movie and I walked in to the kitchen to get a quick snack for myself.
Just as I was about to turn the corner in to the living room, I heard what sounded like water spilling.
As I got to the doorway between the kitchen and living room, I saw a stream of pee going from his body, up in to the air and landing on the middle of the sofa cushion.
I froze.
I didn’t know how to respond. My body wanted to scream but I kept my cool.
He looked at me with fear on his face and said, “You need to clean that up.”
I was done.
I wanted to cry.
It’s a little depressing to feel like a failure, but this potty training business has definitely defeated me, at least for now.
I put a diaper on him, threw the cushion covers in the wash, fed him dinner, and put them both to bed.
He’s apparently not ready, so I guess we will try again next month.
It’s safe to say I will never be writing a book on potty training tips. 
I’m so jealous of the moms whose kids WANT to use the potty.
Oh, how frustrating! I am so sorry.
Alli´s last [type] ..Birth Sisters
Twitter: tottums
says:
Ugh, I am so sorry hon. PTing boys is just NOT fun. The Mouse was 3 when he finally started to get it, and only because my husband LITERALLY told him if he wanted to wear diapers, he would have to change his own from now own. Parents of the year, right here, lol. I hope you have better luck next month!
Tottums´s last [type] ..Weekend Wonderings V.9
I wonder if I could try that with this amazingly stubborn three year old. Maybe the key is to be more stubborn than your kid.
When I was potty training my son (he is 3 now) I took him to the potty every 15 minutes and every time he got up from a nap from bedtime and I stopped buying pull ups and diapers. He wanted to go to preschool (he started at 2) and he had to be potty trained so every day for almost two weeks we went to the bathroom every 15 min until he got the hang of it! It was a lot of hard work and a LOT of messes but we just kept it up and now he is champ!
Good luck!
Jacquie´s last [type] ..My Body Does Not Like Me Right Now!
I really think it’s all about consistency. I just need to get my game face back on and get back after it. I’m not letting it defeat me again.
Twitter: MeaganMusing
says:
Oh Jamie, I’m so so sorry. What a terrible start! I know you’ve heard every bit of advice and I don’t have much to add except to say try to involve dad. Andrew really wanted to pee in the potty like daddy and seemed to think it was a super cool thing to do. We also were going on a Disney cruise and I told him he had to be able to potty in the potty every time or he wouldn’t be able to go swimming on the trip. Is that mean or what?? But we had a few months before the trip and it totally motivated him! Here’s hoping it gets better soon!
Meagan´s last [type] ..Pumpkin Picking
Not being able to go swimming! Yes, that’s definitely motivating!
Jeff has tried taking Langston to the potty and he will stay in there with him for a while but has no desire to do anything while he’s in there. I’m really hoping it all changes, with a quickness. 
When I got serious about potty training with Kaden, I put him in real underwear. No more diapers! It is a lot of cleaning up messes, but eventually they get it and dont want to be wet/dirty. K REFUSED to use a potty chair, HATED it! We started him on the toilet sitting him on it backwards, really helped. Also, he learned to pee outside (we are country!) He still goes out the back to pee every morning when he wakes up!
Daddy helped a lot with this part. I made him a reward chart with his name on it and lots of sticker books for him to pick his sticker when he used the potty. The peeing on the potty is a lot easier to get started than the other. however, K never once poo pooed in the underwear. Only pee. He got it fast though bc he wanted to be praised and rewarded and LOVED the chart hanging on the wall and sticker books! Get the Elmo Potty Time DVD and let the boys watch it, K started watching that movie in the car months before we started p.training. It really helped him! You know R may potty train before L. It will help the younger one seeing it happen. 
Good luck, it’s not easy or fun. LOADS of patients!!!
Thanks Kelly! I’m going to look into the Elmo potty training book. I have wondered if R might potty train before L. Who knows. But, R HATES to be wet when he’s not supposed to be.
Oh girl! I’m so sorry your having a hard time! But at least your still positive about it. I can only imagine how frustrating it is. Just remember, one day (soon) he WILL be using the potty!!! and this is a true test of your patience and consistency! I’m sure youve gotten advice up the wazu, but here are a couple other tips…it took us a solid week (and we had plenty of accidents months after) to potty train. I actually kept Dylan out of MDO and stayed home for the week just so I could really stay on top of watching him. Also when I first started, I would put a diaper on him for nap and bedtime and when he woke up he would fight me about taking it off, he wanted it on, Soo I said fine, no more diaper and just bought a good waterproof mattress pad nd changed the sheets often due to accidents….it sucked but I think really helped him get potty trained faster. Also, since langstons big enough…id skip the “naked method” and put big boy undies on him. Fun superman or baseball ones he can be proud of. He’s big enough to pull them down quick, plus it will help for poop accidents and if he pees it will run down his leg and he probably won’t like it. Anyways… More food for thought! I hope you made him wipe up the pee on the couch! You will win this battle soon, definently not a failure!
Thanks for the ideas, Heather! I’m definitely getting a new mattress pad and we’re skipping the naked part when I get back to it. Hopefully next weekend.
Here comes sympathy. After p training 4 boys, I can tell you that it won’t happen until he is ready. Usually with a new baby in the house, boys aren’t too cooperative. Give him a while longer.
I’m so sorry but after my poop story a week ago, this made me lol! Potty training is frustrating and I can’t imagine doing it with two other kids around. It will happen soon enough!
It’s totally fine that you are laughing! I’m just so glad there is someone who can relate!
I potty trained three. The first two were the death of me but my third was easier and it’s because I waited. I had friends getting onto me that he was not trained. I waited until he was three years and six months. Best decision ever!! He loved hand stamps and if he went potty on the toilet he got a hand stamp and m&ms. The other thing I did was throw out the diapers and move him to undies with a Pullup over the undies. That way if he wet he felt it and he hated that feeling. I took him and we bought new undies with characters he picked. He was stubborn but one day it just clicked. Now he only wears a pull up at night time for the occasional accident. Good luck!
Kriss stewart´s last [type] ..Halloween
I love the idea of putting the pullup over the undies so they really feel it when it’s wet. GREAT idea!
I had to laugh. I stepped in poop one time too. UHG! Hayden screamed like crazy when I wanted to sit him on the potty. But, consistency paid off!
I didn’t read all the comments above, so I may repeat what they have already said. But, 3 days is a must. 1st day is horrible. 2nd day is better. 3rd day you will feel like you conquered the world!
REAL underwear only!!! He needs to feel the sensation. A pain. A lot of laundry. But, only for a few days. Maybe you can have one day without Riverson? The first day of potty training?
Just curious, why you are moving from the little potty to the big potty? Are you having him stand? JMO, but I would not have him stand at the beginning unless he is going outside or something. I got books and suckers for Hayden the first day and he sat on his potty outside even. I would sit down with him. I know, this is much harder with three babies. But seriously, if you can get through the first day/ first day and a half, it gets better!!!
We did a sticker chart too.
I know you feel defeated and have gotten a lot of great advice. He will get it! ;-)
Megan´s last [type] ..Yummy Chicken “Tortilla” Soup
We were exactly the same with our boy, Jack. We rewarded him every time he did a toilet then, weaned him off the rewards. I agree, the first couple of days are bad but, soon get better.
Thanks Graham! Fortunately, we are now happily through the potty training stage with our oldest. It’s time to potty train our next one and I keep stalling because no matter how you look at it, it’s just no fun!
Twitter: sweetsouthmel
says:
I am a new follower and have enjoyed reading your blog! I thought my son would go to kindergarten in a diaper! He was 3 1/2 before he was finally potty trained. It’s very stressful and tiring but try not to worry. One day it will click and he will just up and decide to do it leaving you saying WTH happened, I tried for months and now all of a sudden you wanna do it? Lol. I see that you are very busy with your three little ones but wants to ask you a questions. I am doing a month long thanksgiving next month where each days post what I am thankful for then I will somehow pay my thankfulness forward. Ex) I’m thankful for being able to cloth my children so to pay it forward I’m sending some of their clothes to a little boy in Africa who I sponsor. Any act of Christ’s love for us. I’m trying to find a few fellow bloggers who would like to do a guest post one day on what they are thankful for and how they are paying it forward. If you would be interested I’d love to have you do a post. Just email me and we can workout the details! I’m still very new to the blogging world so I don’t know many bloggers! Would love to have you check me out!
http://Www.sweetsouthernmel.blogspot.com
Thanks!
~Mel