• I just know my son too well to know what or when constitutes the right time
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I was geared. I was armed. I was on the ready mark. But I failed to start, yet again.
Potty training is perhaps the most committed, challenging and tedious journey of them all.
Why? Unlike most of the training exercises with babies and tots, this requires full cooperation, understanding and commitment by the toddler to work.
As a parent, you can put in 200 per cent of the effort, but if the toddler decides it's a no from him, then the mission has failed.
Whenever I look at my kid’s eyes, I fear we are not there yet. I mean, the kid has his Number 1s in the potty done and dusted. But his number 2s… We have some time before he understands what those mean. Every time I want to try potty training, I just think about how arduous the process will be because my child still doesn't understand ‘poo poo’ as he does ‘pee pee’.
This is why I keep delaying my starting process. I feel like I just know my son too well to know what or when constitutes the right time.
However, for the last week of our school break, I was geared for battle. I was ready to tackle this last challenge of toddlerhood once and for all. I would sacrifice my precious holiday. I was willing to give up on sleeping in to take on this mission.
I had mentally prepared myself for four or five days of zero social life and the possibility of my house turning into a potty. I bought a new ladder potty that connects straight to the toilet, I bought a potty training book to read at bedtime. I prepped my sofa for the inevitable.
Monday morning was my starting day. I was locked in on the mission. Until I took my son out to play on Sunday and he kept putting his hands in rain puddles. “That reminds me, I need to deworm him before I potty train,” I thought, sighing out loudly at yet another setback.
Deworming kids is necessary within the first two years as they learn to crawl and walk and touch all unsanitary surfaces and put their hands in their mouths.
Just seeing him play with the puddles gave me the chills, imagining tapeworms in his wee little tummy. And before you mention it, yes, we have instilled in him a hand washing regiment everytime he comes home from outside. As our son is not with us 24/7, we have to err on the side of caution and assume the worst.
I had the week all planned out but Mother Nature taught me never to rely on plans set in stone because a storm might just blow everything away. And it did. Literally and metaphorically.
The week that I had penned out to be our potty training week turned out to be the worst possible time for such an event. The tide was just against us. Instead of fighting, I put my tools away and called it quits. Until next time.