Oh crap. It’s finally happening.
This is it. The time I’ve been dreading since the birth of my son. The one part of parenthood I’ve wanted to avoid since becoming a father. I’ve had nightmares about this. This weekend, we’re going to potty train our three-year-old.
I know I’m being dramatic. I know it’s not going to be as traumatic as I’m imagining it to be, for him or for us. But I’ve been dreading this whole process for years now and the time is finally upon us to get it over with. We’re going to go with the “three days of hell” approach, where we lock ourselves in the house with the little guy, ditch all the diapers we own (i.e. donate the unused ones to diaper banks and the like), and absolutely do not take our eyes off him for the course of this training. Mobile devices are going in a drawer. The television remains off. Even naptime is getting scrapped, but that’s been naturally on its way out for a few weeks now. This is going to be intense, but we also have to make it fun for the little guy. Parenthood, man.
If we stick to our plan and this works, I’m going to be elated. I am sick of changing diapers and I think the little guy is ready to be out of them. Whether he’s ready to sit on the toilet is another matter. We’ll see what happens this weekend.
The book we read to prepare us for this, “Potty Training In Three Days” by Brandi Brucks, recommended using the bathroom in front of your toddler to prepare him for using the toilet, and to help him understand how it works. So, guess what I did yesterday every single time I had to use the bathroom? This is something I never thought I would be doing in my adult life, but there you have it. Parenthood, man.
I’ll be radio silent all weekend and most of Monday. Wish me luck.