Potty with the Paddocks- Day Two

Ahh... the day started out so well, so full of hope! Jon caught Matthew just in time to get his morning poop on the potty! We sang, we danced, we celebrated a giant piece of poop like only parents of a 2 year old can do! Then the kid peed on the floor three minutes later, so the celebration didn't last too long. If Matthew's first accident of the day killed the mood, Caleb's first accident killed much, much more. With one fell swoop, he managed to drown all 44 of the US presidents nearly to death!! Yup- Caleb peed on the presidents!!! ALL of them! Rutherford B. Hayes, William Henry Harrison, and Bill Clinton took the biggest hits. Jon and I had to separate each card and place a layer of toilet paper in between to help dry them out. The good news is that they all appear to have survived. The bad news is that while trying to resuscitate 44 great American heros, we missed Caleb squatting in the corner! Oi vey!

So here are the things we have learned about potty training thus far...

The Pros- Our floors have never been cleaner! Nothing motivates you more to get out that mop and bucket than a giant puddle of pee. Better yet- the giant puddle of pee with the 12 pee soaked footprints left behind when the little toilet tot makes a run for it after spilling his loot!

The Cons- We had no idea how hard it would be to balance out how often you set a little learner on the potty. Do you do it every half hour so that you're not stepping in pee all day? Or do you let them go for an hour or two so they learn what it feels like to be full and when to say they gotta go?! One on hand, a person can only mop up so much urine in one day... on the other hand, they've gotta make mistakes in order to learn. So nearly every move the boys make- if they shimmy or jiggle or appear to be crossing their legs or making a funny face- has me doing a potty dance of my own! Do I make them sit down and try, or do I hope they were just working on their line dancing and facial contortions all at the same time and pray my feet don't get wet in in next 10 seconds. Then, when they do... I kick myself for not making them go 8 seconds ago! Aye yai yai!!!