Potty Training Day #1

The adventure has started! We started with only an afternoon and evening to work with, but we got plenty done. We went straight to undies and started a schedule for pottying.

Some things I learned so far:

1. There are general principles that always work and it's always good to read up on other's ideas, but know that every kid is different and will need a mix of every method.

2. It is TONS harder to potty train your kid than someone else's. Think about it. When you were with another caregiver, didn't you behave so much better? Didn't you have twice the bravery when they asked you to do something hard? When it's not your kid, isn't it easier to institute tough love?

I read every tip I could get my hands on, potty trained many, many children and I still ran up against something I've never seen before. I have been suspecting for a while that my son is a neat freak. Yeah, let's just call it what it is now, downright OCD!

We started the day out fine. One pee immediately in the potty like he was born to do it. Then waiting, waiting, waiting. At first I thought he didn't need to go, then I realized he was holding it for dear life! After a series of little accidents, I started realizing the problem.

Even though I made a big effort to keep the training positive and only gave him nice admonitions of "oh no!" that pee was not to be in his pants or on the floor, he seems to have taken the idea of pee being bad and run with it!

Now he considers all pee to be bad, on the floor, in the toilet, and even in his diaper. Yep, we finally put him in a diaper after dinner to let him relieve his full bladder and he kept getting upset when he'd leak in there a little.

How do you potty train a guy who refuses to use the potty for sanitary reasons?

The next day just got better...worse.