I’ve blogged frequently about my attempts to potty train Davey. I thought he was ready back around Easter. If you’ll remember correctly, that’s when he pulled his pants down at my parent’s house and pooped on their hardwood floors.

I thought he was ready at the start of the summer when he would pull his pants down and sit on the potty, but alas nothing happened. Don’t get me wrong, we’ve had the occasional “Mission Accomplished” moment, but those have been fleeting and nothing more than a coincidence.

Well, as the days keep ticking by and we get closer and closer to the arrival of Henry, I’m finding myself under new pressure to get Davey potty trained ASAP! You wonder why. Well, I’ve been told that I don’t want to have 2 babies in diapers (although I know quite a few moms who have 2 babies this way). I’ve also been told that I won’t have the time to devote to potty training Davey once Henry gets here. I’ll have to wait a few months to get Henry on his routine before I try to get Davey on a routine. And I’ve been told that Davey may not take well to being potty trained when Henry gets here. In other words, I should have his routine set before baby Henry’s arrival.

Most recently, I attempted a new approach with potty training Davey. I went the “cold turkey” way which is putting him in underwear, not training pants. That morning he went through 3 pairs of underwear. The first set was an accident. He peed in his underwear, didn’t like the feeling, and immediately sat down on the potty. Of course, it was too late at that moment, but he understood the point. Shortly there after, he ran up to me, holding his crotch and crossing his legs while telling me had to potty! Success! He was holding it.

I took him to his potty, helped him pull down his underwear and just barely made it with putting him on the potty before he started peeing! How exciting! How awesome! What a big boy I had! All of this I shared with him happily as he continued to pee in the potty.

During my excitement I had become oblivious to the fact that Dixie, our dog, was standing just behind me. Perhaps I should have noticed that sooner and put her in another room because faster than I can blink my eyes, my son stood up and continued to pee while stating, “I pee like Dada.” And before I could stop him, Dixie was standing in front of him licking up his pee!

At first my voice was broken! I was speechless. Then I began to yell at Dixie, “what kind of person drinks another person’s pee?!?!?!” But of course she’s not a person, she’s a dog and it’s not quite so unusual for them. So, as I’m screaming at Dixie, tears start falling down my face (not sure if it was frustration, anger, shock, or just exhaustion since I hadn’t slept any and was fighting my allergies). Davey looks at me and starts crying as well and says to me, “no more potty, Mama.”

And that was the end of that potty training. Have I tried it since then? Yep. Have I had any progress? Nope. I think my yelling and crying perhaps startled him, traumatizing him from moving forward with potty training. He does; however, like to inform me on a regular basis that Dixie has a pee pee mouth. Right he is.

This week, my in-laws are visiting for Davey’s 2nd birthday. My husband’s grandmother, Davey’s great grandmother, also made the trip, and she’s taking it upon herself to try her hand at potty training Davey. I’m relieved. It would be nice to have someone else teach him and for me to just take over. We’ll see what becomes of it.