Finding Humor in Potty Training {for boys}

I’m not talking “potty humor”…I’m talking poopy problems!

As part of a sponsored post for Collective Bias, I’m going to share just a few ways that I am still finding humor in potty training. I have a five year old. He’s a big boy now. He is starting Kindergarten in (yikes!) exactly two months from today. I should not be dealing with potty training issues, but I am, and at this point there is no other way to deal with the stress than to just find something funny and run with it.

My boy has always had poopy problems. As a baby, he didn’t have “normal” dirty diapers. He had rocks. They only came every other day or so, but they were rocks and they made his diapers bulge just a little. As a toddler, we tried different juices and small doses of laxative medicine, but the rocks just kept coming. He never complained of pain or tummy problems, but I complained a lot to his doctor who just kept suggesting another medicine, fiber in his diet, more juice…

Because of this problem, we are still working on potty training. For the most part, my boy doesn’t have tee-tee accidents, but the poopy accidents are still happening. He will hold onto it for days until I’m almost ready to resort to Fleet and then it happens.

Until about a month ago, it was one change of underwear after another. He would come home from daycare with little Walmart bags tied in knots and there were days when I just wanted to throw them in the trash and buy new underwear. Once my boy started Summer camp, he decided that he could be a big boy and use the potty consistently. And the fighting stopped as the potty time increased.

Now, it’s time to teach my boy about big boy clean.

5 Steps to Finding Humor in Potty Training

Step 1: Standing up or Sitting down

You have to decide if you are going to be teaching your boy about standing up or sitting down when you first start potty training. I decided that we would start with standing because that is the “norm” and he seemed to be okay with that. He never took interest in his potty seat (thank goodness, because that whole dumping out the pee after is just eww!) so we tried in the potty. When that didn’t work right away (I mean, who wants to stand there holding a kid in front of a potty for very long when they are screaming) we tried other options.

Step 2: Make tee-tee fun

I’ll never forget the look on my husband’s face when I told him that I took our naked child outside to pee off the back porch. That kid would not pee, but he did think it was funny! We tried telling him to pee in the bathtub or pee at the same time as Daddy so he knows it isn’t scary. We even tried putting cheerios or fruit loops in the potty so he could aim for them. Eventually, he got it, then we had to teach him to shake the drip off after, but that’s a story for another time. Now, he thinks it is hilarious to pee in the tub because then Mommy has to clean it all out and make a new bath. He also thinks it is hilarious to open the shower door and pee in there. I need a good reminder sometimes why I ever taught him that in the first place.

Step 3: Poopy Party Time

In all the trips to the doctor to find out why my boy wouldn’t poop, I learned a few poopy party stories to help my boy feel comfortable going. Did you know that there is a poopy party under our house now? When my boy goes, he has to wave goodbye to the poopy and then it gets to go to the party. If he doesn’t go, then his poopy will be sad in his booty because it wants to be at the party and it will make his tummy hurt. Yeah…that’s fun stuff right there!

Because he is a true boy (and his daddy is a true man) my boys have a contest to see who can gross out Mommy the worst. When my boy is tired or he just doesn’t want to go (but he’s stinking up the house by passing gas every few minutes) then we tell him to go “blow it up” in the bathroom. They have size contests, stink contests, and we tend to talk about poopy quite often around our house. Don’t judge, it works for us, and I’ve accepted my boy mom status in this world.

Step 5: Clean up, Clean up, Time to Clean Up

Now that my boy is so much better about going poopy in the potty, it is time that he starts learning to clean himself up. Last week, he came home with a knotted up bag and I asked him what happened. He said he had skid marks, went poopy in the potty, but didn’t know how to wipe himself good so he needed to change again. Well, I plopped him in the tub and got him cleaned up and then it was time to teach him about getting clean as a big boy.

I headed to Walmart to pick up some supplies for this new lesson in life. My boy wants to be a big boy and it’s time to ditch the baby wipes (seriously, how did I live my life without baby wipes before I had a baby) and get some grown-up flushable wipes. I bought Cottonelle double rolls (because I love the ridges and I’m a “wad it up” girl so we go through a lot of toilet tissue) and the Cottonelle Fresh Care flushable moist wipes. Now my boy can learn to wipe with a strong and effective toilet tissue and then clean himself up and feel fresh. For all his efforts to be such a big boy (and because the kids at summer camp says his is a “baby backpack”), I bought him a big boy backpack as well.

Select Walmart stores now have the 24 pack of double rolls specially marked so you can receive a FREE package of Fresh Care moist wipes! Hurry and get yours now!