Parent Potty Training

We're in the middle of potty training right now, or rather, I'm in the middle of trying to start 26-month-old boy to potty train - AGAIN.

See, since he was around 8 months old, my son has learned to pee and poop every morning and after naps in the potty, after following my mom's advice to get him on the potty as soon as he can sit up at about 6 months old. There were even times when I'd re-use his diaper because it was soil-free. At that time, I learned we were practicing some form of "elimination communication," and at this point I was hopeful that potty training him by the time he could walk would be a breeze.

And then we went back home for a month-long vacation when he was 13 months old. There, he had to live in a completely new environment: different weather, different place, different people, with me as his sole constant. He refused to sit on the potty so I didn't force him to.

When we got back to our house in the US, I thought he'd be happy to go on his potty seat again – boy was I wrong. He wouldn't even want to come near it. I didn't force it on him, he was only over a year old anyway. I thought I had time. Little did I know that the possibility of a problem-free potty training experience would be flushed right down the toilet.

Now, as I look at the new truck-like potty seat we purchased to make him interested in the potty again, the cute underpants I have made ready and the fish and animal "reward stickers" I bought to bribe him to sit on the potty, I fear my boy will still be in diapers in college. He just refuses to start potty training, happy to sit and play in pee and poop diapers for as long as I allow him to.

He's just not ready, say the "experts." I thought he has long been ready, because he's done this before. He knows how to pee and poop, because he's told me before through signing that he is either in the process of going or has just gone. But now, he just won't do it.

I was hoping he'd be potty trained by the time another baby who needs to be changed every two hours comes. But I guess I'll have to wait a bit more and just keep my fingers crossed that he will be "ready" to be a big boy sooner than later. I'd rather really not have two kids in diapers at the same time.

Still, as with many other milestones, I know it will happen at his own pace, and allowing him to be ready before gently encouraging proper potty habits is what I should be doing.

I wish there some parent-training for learning to be patient and letting go of control. I could sure use that now.