It felt like every other minute or so that I asked him if he wanted to go pee. When he did want to go, he’d say “shee-sheesh?” to me, and I would lead him to the toilet. Joel was fine standing up to pee, and after a while had a preference to sit on the little toilet seat propped above the toilet bowl. I used a small and low voice to say “good job” to him. I didn’t put any pants on him that night, and just left him bare bottomed.

Accidents? I counted one that night, when he peed. I caught him in the act and quickly carried and rushed him to the toilet. By that time, he was already done with himself. I reminded him to tell me if he wants to go pee.

Sometime during the night, Joel asked to have his diaper put on. I told him there’s no more diaper for him, and he complained and cried. I told him that he is now a big boy like and can’t use the diaper. He only stopped crying when I said that since he was a big boy, he can get a big hug. He never asked for his diaper since.

The challenge that night was to make him stop drinking whatever. He’s still on the bottle, and he likes to drink before he goes to sleep. I only gave him a little of both milk and water, and more wailing ensues. He went to the toilet again about six times before he went to bed. But, thank God, no more accident so far.

Darling husband finally came home at around 11p. I gave him a big hug and told him my big plan. I was tired and still emotionally nervous, but at least it’s the end of the day. Though it wasn’t quite the end of Day 1 since I started only in the evening. But for the sake of it, let’s just call my Friday as Day 1.

As I mentioned in my previous post, I decided to just do it on a Friday evening, mainly due to 3 things. Firstly, is that I am expecting our fourth child this July. Secondly, is that Joel’s turning 4 this December, and next year he’ll start kindergarten. Thirdly, I’m just tired of changing his diapers.

I’ve been holding off toilet training Joel mainly because he’s verbally still trying to communicate well. He’s yet to pronounce words properly, but he’s getting there lately. He still babbles, and I do find it hard to understand him some times.

But I can’t hold it off much longer. It’s now or never.

The challenging part is not the toilet training or Joel himself. The challenge is for me mentally, psychologically and emotionally to deal with teaching him. Toilet training scares me more than it scares Joel, because of the physical work that comes with it (cleaning, focusing, being consistent), as well as the emotional toil (his crying, complaining, getting away from the ease of just changing his diapers). It’s nerve-wreaking.

I never had to teach Eric toilet training, actually. The daycare he went to last time made sure he was trained, and for that I am most grateful. Joel goes to a different daycare now, and the responsibility falls on me.

Anyway, I’ll be breaking Joel’s toilet training journal into many parts as I don’t have the time to actually post fully. I need to rest.

FRIDAY EVENING

As soon as we arrived home, Joel pooed in his diaper. Here was my chance to take off his last diaper for the rest of his life. I cleaned him up, and asked Eric’s help to hide the rest of Joel’s disposable diapers (which I plan to use for Ezra). Darling hubby had to stay back and finish his MSc homework till 10p at the office, so I was relying very much on my dear 9-year old Eric for assistance.

Using the e-book I purchased that afternoon called “3 Day Potty Training” by Lora Jensen, I did my best to follow the advice. I also purchased a kid toilet seat and a booster so that Joel could use it to stand up the normal toilet bowl. I didn’t buy a potty because I noticed Joel didn’t want to sit on one at all.

I’m currently in the process of toilet training Joel due to the fact that he is turning 4 in December and will be starting kindergarten next year. That fact is making me super anxious.

I’ve opted to use the techniques found in the 3 Day Potty Training e-book. I decided to try it out the day I bought the e-book, and things were practically pretty rushed right before the training started. On Friday afternoon after purchasing the e-book, I rushed to Signature, a store located at Karamunsing Complex, and purchased a kid toilet seat and step booster haphazardly. Right after work, the training started.

See, I’m suppose to be focusing on Joel exclusively right now, which was what the book told me to do, but look what I’m doing now. Better get back to focusing on Joel. Will blog some more when the 3-day period is over.

A long time ago, I used to actively keep up with Eric’s developmental activities, noting down what month he started rolling, crawling, standing up, had his first tooth, etc. Although I pay attention to Joel’s development as well, I haven’t really been rushing to put things on paper, or blog them.

It’s good to note, anyways, that Joel has been reaching all his milestones like a text book, even his 13-to-18-month milestones. He doesn’t throw tantrums that much, as he’s been using the simple sign languages I’ve taught him whenever he’s hungry, sleepy, wanting to bathe, or even changing the channels and choosing the cartoons he wants to watch. Joel loves to say bye-bye and hi to his dad on his way to and from work. He’s also a real joker, who likes to entertain Eric and myself with his pretend falling down antics and turning around in a spot till he’s dizzy and then having a big laugh out of it.

I’m eagerly awaiting Joel to reach his next crucial milestone — learning to potty. I’m pretty anxious about this because I haven’t really taught him how to communicate with me whenever he wants to urinate; he only knows how to tell me when he poos. He’s almost a year and a half now, the same age as when I started potty training Eric, and he managed to go diaper-free after just 3 months. I don’t know how both of us did it, but I hope Joel and I get the same success because it does look like Joel doesn’t enjoy his potty that much.