In Training

Today was a big potty day at Mother's Day Out. The kids in my room are two and three-year-olds, so they're either recent diaper graduates, or they will be by May. So typically, I man the bathroom adjacent to our room, and the other two teachers deal with the diapers. (Fine by me!) And I've pretty much had the same kids coming through since the beginning. But today, a little guy wandered in and told me he had to go. I, of course, expressed great delight at this turn of events and invited him in. I helped him with his pants and then told him that I'd have to take his diaper off. He didn't want me to. He wanted to sit on the potty wearing the diaper. Okay. No problem--whatever. If it helps him get acclimated, I'm all for it. So he sat down and waited. I said, 'Are you going?', and he started shifting around and looking under himself into the toilet. Then he says, 'It's not working.' So I had to explain that the diaper was in the way. So then he wanted to take it off and sit down again. I have no idea whether he ever went or not.

**Tangent: It's impossible to tell what a parent has told a little boy about potty-training, and so the process for an outside potty-trainer is dicey at best. Do they prefer to sit or stand? Raise the seat or keep it down? Tuck it in or just let it do its own thing? Wipe or air dry? And some of these kids aren't talking (meaning, they don't tell me, so basically I'm guessing, moving slow, trying to play things by ear and keep everything as sanitary as possible. Doesn't always work so well). End Tangent**

Then another little boy came in (his mother had given us a heads up that he was potty-training) and said that he needed to go. But it was clear he didn't want to do anything with me standing there, so I helped him with his pants and went to stand by the door. Minutes passed. I checked on him several times, but he was never 'done'. Meanwhile, a little girl is waiting to go potty, so I pull the boy away from the toilet (it's now been probably five minutes since he's been standing there with no success) and sneak her on, thinking it'll be quick. Then she tells me she needs to go poo-poo. Of course she does. So I pull the pull-up and pants on the boy back up and run off to find another bathroom. He stands there for another few minutes (my back is turned), and still nothing. By this time, it's time to go home, and his mom will be there any minute. I tell him this, suggest that maybe 'there's nothing there' and that maybe he'd like to wait for his mom. He wouldn't. Another minute and I zip him back up and wash his hands. I step away to do something else and he's told another teacher he has to go, so he's back at the toilet, having just gone in his pull-up, now waiting for more to come out. We had to have his mom come in and broker a deal. I was relieved to escape.

But all that said, potty-training is a big deal, so yay for those little boys!!