God and Potty-Training

God and potty-training... you probably don't usually think of those two topics as going together, do you? But I bet there's more than one mom out there who can relate when I say that potty-training causes all sorts of spiritual downers - frustration, exhaustion, the desire to throttle your two-year-old son.

That was about where I was at last Saturday.

WARNING: If you don't like discussions of gross bodily functions, this post is not for you. You have been duly warned.

I'd started Gabe out on his potty-training journey some two weeks before. I'd stuck him in underwear for a day and started sitting him on the toilet every 20 minutes to an hour. By the end of the day, I had remembered that I had a pack of Pull-Ups that had been taking up space in the kids' closet for the last three years, leftover from potty-training Savi. I thought NOT having to clean up Gabe's accidents sounded awesome, so I switched him to the Pull-Ups.

Not once in the next two weeks did he pee in the toilet.

I started going longer and longer between sitting him on the potty. By the end of the two weeks, he was running low on Pull-Ups, so I stuck him back in diapers. On Friday, I decided this weekend was going to be my last chance. If I didn't have Gabe at least starting to get the idea, then potty-training him was going to ruin homeschooling. I was going to have to get serious. I psyched myself up, telling myself this was it, I was going to do it, man! I leaped up Saturday morning, set Gabe on the toilet, put him back in real underwear, and set the timer for 30 minutes.

About five hours and several accident-cleanings later, I was ready to give up. He's never going to get it, I thought. God, where are you? Help! Finally I calmed my despair down enough to ask God more simply, God, please help Gabe pee in the toilet.

The next time Gabe needed to go, he leaked a bit onto his underwear, and then informed me ... ("Da poop" he calls it... I don't know why he has the two reversed). I got him onto the toilet and he finished going. The next time, he informed me before he went.

Another answered prayer. Really, it never ceases to amaze me when God answers "little" things like that, just because I ask Him to.

^{Note: He still has a long way to go, but it's a ton of progress for him. He even #2'd on the toilet today. Also, I've been thinking lately that I really should take the time to put some appropriate pictures in my blog posts. However, I think you can all be grateful that I am NOT including relevant pictures on this particular post.}