Potty Training, Round Two

I have been hoping against hope that Gus would wait to potty train until he was three. We have a week-long vacation planned in January. It would be much easier if he could wear diapers, because, really, a two year old's bladder just isn't that big. And there's always the debate of dehydration vs. stopping every five minutes to go potty, especially on long road trips. I tend to fall on the side of temporary dehydration, which probably is really bad.

Well, Gus has other plans about this whole potty training thing. He's fascinated and cannot wait to wear big boy underpants. He goes potty on the toilet about once a day without any prompting from us. Which I understand, is really rare for a boy. I just wish I could appreciate it more. With a newborn and almost four year old, potty-training is the LAST thing on my mind. Lucy woke up with a cold and low-grade fever this morning, so I knew we'd be isolated for a few days. I decided I'd make a small effort on this whole toilet training business with Gus. I got the fancy Cars Pull-Ups out that have a disappearing Lightning McQueen (when the pull up gets wet, the picture disappears). Gus LOVES them and definitely prefers them over diapers. I decided to get a good bribe going, too. I told him that if he went poopies on the potty he would get to go to Monkey Joes (a place that has about ten different bounce house things). He was thrilled. Gus went potty on the toilet about five or six different times today. It feels like we spent the majority of the day in the bathroom, washing our hands. And I was like a broken record, "Point IT down. Right, IT. Point IT down. Make sure IT's down. Close your legs..."

So tonight, Judson was crying and Lucy was going potty on the toilet, and Gus apparently felt the urge to go. He had taken his clothes off and was supposed to be putting his jammies on (he can do that now, too). I look out and both kids are naked. The carpet outside the bathroom was wet. Apparently, Lucy was using the toilet and Gus didn't have a toilet to go potty on. He could have taken an extra 50 steps and used the one in my room, but he decided that was too far. He figured out the point and shoot mechanism ready-made on his body and thought the carpet would be a fine place to show off his new potty-training skills. Gus showed me that he went potty on the carpet (our carpet is brown, so everything blends in, which means lots of Resolve goes on it) and then, almost immediately, said, "I sowy (sorry) Mommy! I sowy Mommy!" Hopefully, that's the last of pointing and shooting for a good while.