Christopher always seems to start out really well every time we attempt to potty train him. You are probably going, "every time? what does that mean?" Well, we are on our third time right now and this one is going to stick. I'm determined. The first time I think was just b/c it was a new idea, but we'd just had Sophie and about to move, so I knew it wouldn't stick and didn't go along with it.

The second time was several months ago and he initiated it. He was doing fabulous for weeks and then all of a sudden he wouldn't tell me when he had to go poo poo and started going in his underwear. At first I thought it was just accidents, but then I quickly realized he did know better, just didn't care. I started getting onto him and he'd get in trouble if he had any accidents that I know could have been prevented. This backfired in a HORRIBLE way. He started pooping all day long, meaning tons of washed underwear and then started peeing in his pants again. The last straw was one night when he pooped and I cleaned him up then when I came out of the bathroom he was peeing - on purpose - onto the carpet. He looked at me and laughed with an evil laugh and I wanted to tear up his cute little back end. Don't worry, I didn't. I think I must have blacked out b/c I didn't even put him in time out or anything, I honestly don't remember what I did other than yell, "THAT'S IT! YOU'RE GOING BACK TO DIAPERS!" He could have cared less.

Well, over Easter he decided to try going potty again. We thought this was going to be it b/c we waited until he decided everything on his own. (We thought he had done that before too.) Again, it started out great, then a few weeks into it he started pooping in his underwear again. I told myself to not yell at him or get mad at him b/c I knew where that got me last time. Until today. I knew I needed a new "trick", so I decided to just try talking to him about it (again). Here's how that conversation went...

Me: "Why do you go poop in your underwear?"

C: (in a silly voice) "It's my paaannnties!"

Me: "Does it feel good or yucky to go in your underwear?"

C: (still in silly voice) "It's my paaaaanties!!!! Poopy panty potty!"

Me: (realizing I'm not getting anywhere so just get to the point) "Do you poop in your panties b/c you know Mommy will clean it up?"

C: "YUP!!!"

Me: "Well, not anymore. If you want that cleaned up you'll have to do it yourself."

C: "But I don't know how?"

Me: "Well, you'll have to figure it out."

For the next 10-15 minutes he walked around with dirty pants and every now and then he'd say, "You need to change me, Mommy," or "But I don't know how to clean it." to which I kept replying, "You'll just have to figure it out b/c Mommy doesn't clean poopy underwear anymore." All of a sudden I hear him yelling with excitement from the bathroom, "I DID IT!!!" I ran in there expecting a huge mess and he had done it without anything to wipe but his cute hiney. He had even pulled out a couple wipes to use. So, it worked once. We'll just see if it works again. I sure hope so!!