We Have Success!

Praise the Lord! Our Zachary is finally potty trained!

You'll remember that we have been at this whole training deal for a year. When he turned three I pulled out the little potty, the brand new "big boy" Lightening McQueen undies, the reward chart, the stickers, the books, the videos and we went at it. It started out as a sweet mommy trying to teach her little boy the ropes. Oh sweet, sweet mommy who lovingly overlooked the accidents, the refusals to sit on the potty and encouraged him that "he could get it next time." Uh yea, she gave way to witchy, evil, speak through her clenched teeth mommy who threatened him within an inch of his life if he didn't "sit! down! on! that! POTTY! and POOP!"

Oh my heavens, friends, if me NOW could talk to me THEN I'd tell her to just cool it and wait.

Then just a few days before his 4th birthday (note: a whole year later) I caught him upstairs in his room trying to poo in his pants and whisked him straight to the potty. I was trying to cram his stiffened up, screaming body down onto the potty just in hopes of him dropping it in accidentally. Nope, he held it. I didn't care though. I made him sit and sit and sit, crying his eyes out the whole time. I sat crumpled at his feet begging him, threatening him, bribing him and finally, I just laid my head on the side of the tub and prayed out loud. "Lord! Please! Please just help Zach do this. Help him not be scared and to go potty. Please." And, sweet as pie, my little man said "Mom?" I looked up at him defeated and he says to me, "Mom, Jesus said I can get off the potty now." Touche, dude.

So I let him down, refuse to put undies back on him and made him sit on the potty every fifteen minutes as we had been doing for a week or so before. And FINALLY...he did it. I sent him in alone and a few minutes later he sheepishly opened the door and said "I did it." Hee hee!

And God as my witness, this kid has been doing it on his own ever since, every day, sometimes a few times a day. Are you kidding me!? Yay! He just had to decide on his own that he was going to do it and when he did...that's all she wrote. It's like a huge anvil has been lifted off of us. No more poopy pants and he is SO proud of himself. Now I get the extreme privilege of seeing his huge smile every day when he proudly declares he "did it!"

Way to go, Zach! It's just one more thing that proves YOU ARE THE MAN!