May the Porcelain God Shine Happily On My Second Child

Before my first son was even interested in potty training, I worried about it — should we be starting, why doesn’t he show any readiness at age three, etc.  

When he finally was ready, my husband and I made a big deal every time he peed, congratulating him. 

With my second son following two years behind his big brother, I’m amazed at how much simpler things have been.  His birth, for example, was so much easier than the first; things were already stretched out, and I knew how long to wait at home before going to the hospital.  I also knew to ask for an epidural instead of trying to make it through excruciating back labor as I did the first time.

When it came to potty training number two, I figured we’d wait till summer, one of these summers, to do it.  It’s so much easier when the kids can run around naked. 

This summer has ended up being the time to potty train him.  Our house has been transformed into a temporary nudist colony, and we play mostly in the backyard.  When he pees in the potty, we make a big deal and praise him, but it’s not like the first child when time stopped and I would call all our relatives to update them on his urination progress.

This evening, my youngest wanted to wear underwear like his big brother.  So we put it on him and reminded him he still needed to use the potty. When the time came, he yelled, “Pee pee coming!” and ran into the bathroom.  My husband and I smiled at each other. It was cute, but we continued with our tasks in the kitchen. I thought how with our first child we’d be following him around, and with the second, well, he would just know what to do. 

At least I thought he did.

He came out of the bathroom smiling, “I went pee pee!” 

And he had. 

He’d sat on the potty and peed. With his underwear still on. Then it dawned on me — we forgot to tell him to take his underwear off  before he pees. 

Oops. 

So we praised him while changing him out of his wet undies and told him the steps boys need to take to have a successful piss. 

While we still make mistakes with number two, we’re a lot more relaxed about them.  If we’re less tense, hopefully, he will be, too.

I’m also hopeful, like the mother of every son is, that his aim will become accurate and the outside of the toilet, as well as the floor, will be white and not yellow. 

By Kristy Lund