Wade is a Man of His Word

I was so exasperated. Frustrated. Lost. I didn’t know how I was ever going to get through to him. Some moms do it in three days. Others claim it only took 24 hours. We worked on it for almost a year, and stalled at a seemingly insurmountable road block.

“You have to do this. Do you want to go to soccer camp this summer like a big boy? Do you want to go to Bible School? Do you want to go to pre-school next fall? You have to do this. You’re almost four. You have to poop in the potty. Not in your pants. In the potty, ” I begged and pleaded with Wade for what seemed like the millionth time.

“When I’m four, and I’m a big boy I will poop in the potty, ” Wade insisted.

I felt like banging my head against the cold, smooth porcelain commode. “Yeah, right,” I thought to myself as I wondered how he’d survive middle school still wearing Pull-Ups.

Yesterday Wade turned four. We celebrated my sweet, feisty, funny, dig-his-heels-into-the-ground determined little boy who surprised me on Mother’s Day 2009 by arriving five weeks early. He tore open his presents, blew out the candles and smeared frosting all over his face.

Then this afternoon from his room where we placed his potty chair Wade called, “Mom! I pooped in the potty!”

And he did. True to his word. When he was a Big Boy. When he was four, and not a day sooner. When Wade makes an appointment, you can be sure he’ll keep it.

So mamas, you can read all the how-to potty training books you want. You can try the 3-day, 24-hour, weekend and standing-on-your-head-while-chewing-gum-and-praying methods. You can think, “I’ve got this, because I did it before.” But the truth is every kid is different. What worked for one may not work for another. Really, the only thing I can say for almost certain are the reassuring words other moms said to me, “Don’t worry. He won’t graduate high school wearing diapers.”