We all have those funny raising kid stories...... I remember a time....
At work, last Saturday morning we started discussing how the kids are growing up. It was great when they were smaller and we had more control over the 'whole' of them. I mentioned that I was surprised last summer when I noticed that my older son had underarm hair! When did that grow in? How did I not see it before! PST... Cathy your boys are more Men than boys and just so you know and are not totally shocked they have hair on all different parts of their body! Well, just when was the last time that I bathed him. Yes, he's a teenager so it's been quite a long, long time. Still, it was a wake-up call that they are growing up (thank God!) and I need to catch up. (Sunshine) Cathy sometimes you make me laugh so hard!
Somehow the conversation changed over to potty training. Everyone has potty training stories! My boys were both in the summer of their third year when they accomplished this feat. I remember the hours we sat and read, "The Potty Book," while they sat and sat and sat and sat. (Wasn't it just easier to keep them in diapers?, hmmmm) Well, when the younger son was in the midst of learning, one night when I said, "ok, time to go sit and try," the older son (by two years) said he would teach him. He took his brother by the hand and up to the bathroom they went with me tip-toeing behind them. The older one said, "all you do is push down your pants and aim and there you go. (I edited the terms he used). Just like that.....potty training done!
I can't remember much of the toilet training period with the teenager. But I do remember being in Calgary with the Sunshine family and the little one was in the midst of being trained. I remember thinking before we even left it would be easier if stayed in diapers for a few more weeks but she decided she was ready. So what felt like every 30 km or so of our sight seeing we had to pull over because she said she had to pee. I think she left her mark as far north as Edmonton and as far south as Watertown. By the way, if you ever get a chance to go to Watertown, it is worth the trip. It was the neatest thing to stroll down downtown Watertown and window shop with the locals. Just so you know the locals happen to be Elk! On our first visit to Banff (about 14 years ago), the elk were everywhere. We were having dinner on an outdoor patio and the elk would be poking their heads through the planters. I remember how we would comment on how polite and smart they were. The joke was that they would stop at red lights and only cross on a green light. It was quite the sight. The next time that we visited maybe 5 years ago or so, there were no elk to be found in the town. You could only catch a glimpse of them in the wild.
About potty training. I really don't remember when my girls were actually trained. I may have it written down somewhere. I do remember being pressured by others who would comment on their age and on how they should be fully trained by such and such an age. I never really worried about it all that much. I really let them go on their own schedule. When they were ready, they started to pee in the big girl toilets. There were many, many accidents along the way (one even occurred on the seat of an airplane). The constant accidents were very frustrating for us as parents and for the child. In the end slowly but surely they both learned to use the facilities and the bonus is that now that they are older they can also clean the facilities (yay).
It's interesting how you talk about being pressured to train the kids by a certain age. I remember a friend once telling me proudly how her niece was trained at 18 months! I said that I didn't think that the child was trained, but rather everyone else around her was! I don't know why some people worry about it. It's a natural process, what I mean is you don't see many 7 year olds still in diapers. (I know there are exceptions, there are always exceptions), however, the majority of children learn, at a time when they are ready. Why do some people stress over it?
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