Potty Training

This blurry picture is Ben dancing and hugging his new underwear. (In front of a sink full of cake dishes- one of the kids said I should blur that out.)

I’ve always subscribed to the theory that my kids should be the ones potty training, not me. Meaning I wasn’t going to start the process until they were really ready, and interested. So all my kids were potty trained between the ages of 2-3ish. Except Benboy. We tried it a couple times over the years but each time he would say “I need to go pee” as the pee was running down his leg. The feeling was that he wasn’t able to control the muscles or maybe he didn’t feel the sensation of needing to “go” but we really weren’t sure. When I saw moms post “diaper free!” on Facebook I would think “good for you, we are on 15 years and counting….”

Last Sunday was his 8th birthday and one of the first things he said that morning was “Dad, I have a really wet diaper!” We laughed and I told Jonathan that was probably something most people don’t hear from their 8 year old. I put him in the bath and a few minutes later he said “I have to go pee!” He got out, went over and climbed on the toilet and went pee. He’s tried this before but I’d never seen it work so smoothly. Hmmm. So we put him in underwear. I am so glad Jonathan was gung ho because I tend to be more nervous about accidents out in public and we were going to church (!!!) But we just stuck with it, and BOOM! A week later and Ben has been wearing underwear during the day, every day…. to school, to church, everywhere!!! And has only had a couple accidents. Here he is with thumbs up after another successful potty break.

Did we wait too long to try? Maybe, or it was just the right time. I am still in a little bit of shock it went so easily. Tender Mercies! I thought it was going to be a really long haul with diapers, or a long few weeks of potty training!

His little superman underwear clad bottom is one of the cutest things I have ever seen. He is SO proud and not at all embarrassed to inform people that he NOW is wearing underwear.