New Year’s Day is famously a holiday centered on bold (possibly unrealistic) promises and embarrassing bathroom situations (well, New Year’s Eve is, at least). We’re taking care of making Miles’s resolution for him this year, and as it happens, it will likely also lead to some toilet-related mishaps. Yes, with the holiday season behind us and a chance to return to a mostly-consistent routine finally here, today was the day we started potty training.
Jaclyn’s been reading quite a bit and it’s put a lot of ideas in her head. The plan? Miles will go naked for the next few days, leaving him with two choices: learning to use the potty appropriately or suffering the humiliation of constantly relieving himself on the floor**.
Things started out predictably shaky. Miles was not at all afraid to be naked, but he did have a few accidents on the floor. BUT he also clearly felt ashamed*** and soon after started sitting on his potty more consistently. The message we’ve been imparting on him is that when he feels like he needs to poo-poo or pee-pee, he needs to tell us. From that point, we’ve got anywhere from 0-10 seconds to get him on the john before the magic happens.
Remarkably, he’s already starting to internalize the process and understand what we’re asking of him. The accidents nosedived in the afternoon (granted, we were also making regular trips to the potty whether Miles declared his intention to pee or not), and he was immensely happy to receive the praise that accompanied a successful trip to the potty.
While the peeing was great and all, I needed to see one thing before I was willing to declare day 1 a success. Fortunately, around 7:00, Miles led us to his potty, sat down, and reached out for our hands as we heard the unmistakeable *PLUNK* of a poo colliding with the basin. My boy had done it.
Miles’s first day of potty training, by the numbers:
Floor accidents: 3
Successful #1s: 5
Successful #2s: 1 (but what a magnificent one it was…)
The Perils (& Pride) of Paternity 
