The potty training wars have begun

I grew up in the 80’s.That’s right, I wore leg warmers, Keds and even parachute pants.

I was so cool, although I have a feeling my kids will eventually think differently.

Being a child of the 80’s was a time of video games, but not just in the arcade. Ours was the first generation with games at home, too. We had an Atari with Packman, Donkey Kong, Asteroid, and of course we can’t forget Pong. I learned a lot from those games, most lessons revolving around losing to my brother.

Now, I am living a real life video game, one which I am not winning.

My son is in the process of being potty trained, and I am finding this to be quite the battle. He has mastered removing all his clothes and diaper in preparation of going in the toilet, but we are still missing a few keys steps.

A few nights ago my son, who has now realized how much fun it is to run around naked, decided to take a few laps around the house after undressing himself to take a bath. This was not a big deal to me since I was undressing his little brother to take a bath as well. 

As I was walking down the hall with a naked baby in my arms, I saw my two year old standing in the bathroom in horror.  He was yelling “messy” at the top of his lungs. 

When I got into the bathroom, he solemnly said, “Memis dropped pee pee on the floor.”

It was then that I realized what had happened. My son has seen other men in my family use the toilet -- not by their choice, he just follows them into the bathroom. He notices how men stand up to us the toilet as most little boys do, so he was trying to do the same.

Unfortunately, he is about 3 inches too short to accomplish the goal. 

I couldn’t help but laugh at this. Yes, it is yet another mess to clean up, but to see the look on his face was completely worth it. 

I am learning that I will have a lot of these little scenarios in the potty training wars. They seem to happen daily. I assume it will be as many video games are, numerous levels that take place in pursuit of the greater goal.

Eventually I will win, I hope.  But until then I am going to enjoy this great little challenge of motherhood.


Former radio personality Carey DeBeaux, who  grew up in Rio Rancho, is now raising two sons with her husband Tim. Her column on family life will appear on a regular basis. Click here to contact her.