Adventures in Potty-Sitting

Abbie’s potty training is going poorly. She doesn’t seem interested. We keep making her sit on the potty, and she keeps sitting for 10-15 minutes without doing anything more exciting than singing.

All that sitting and singing takes a lot of time, and the boys need something to do during that time that doesn’t involve pulling things out of kitchen drawers. When Tory walked in the bathroom yesterday morning while mommy had Abbie on the potty, he climbed onto another potty.* Mommy noted his eagerness, stripped off his diaper, and let him sit alongside sister.

While Abbie hasn’t peed in the potty in weeks, Tory peed in the potty almost immediately. Surprised and not knowing what else, Ellie yelled for me to bring him a treat. I pulled out a bag of chocolate chips, which he readily accepted.

Abbie and Ian recognized the chocolate chips, and the injustice that Tory got some and nobody else. They both threw a fit, not understanding that they needed to pee before getting a reward. Tory, though, understood that peeing leads to chocolate chips, and happily peed on the floor.

I’m starting to think that 18 years of diapers is easier than this.

* We have three potties. I’d like to say we bought one potty for each child in a well-thought out plan to potty train all three. We bought all three for Abbie, though. They’re three different styles, each bought with the hope that it’ll be the kind that magically appeals to her. We’re oh-for-three in that department.