Potty Training and Exploitation

 This has to be, by far, the hardest part of parenting a toddler that I have encountered so far. Potty training. I'm trying not to get stressed out about it and would rather him take his time BUT, Mikah suffers from food sensitivities like noacidic foods/fruits, for one, or else it gives his behind water blisters it burns him so bad. Now, I know that has to do with the fact that he's pretty much urinating on himself and into the diaper and I'd rather have this part of his life over with so I can begin to experiment with and maybe get him to tolerate foods like that better.

 That's the big, selfless part of it. Another reason, that makes me giddy inside, is that my sister is pregnant! She's almost 15 weeks and I think I have her boyfriend convinced to cloth diaper. YAY!! That means Mikah's diapers can become hand-me-downs, or I can use them for clients for my TRFCDC- chapter. (If and when I get an applicant. By the way, I can't believe I haven't done an update on that. More to come about The Rebecca Foundation's Cloth Diaper Closet and how you can apply if you need our help for you or a friend! Though, Mikah being in diapers still is keeping me from having another one so soon, or, at least, keeping me from planning for another child. I don't want two in diapers. Nope.

 It seems like Mikah knows that I want him to urinate in the toilet but I think he still has trouble with letting it go on command. He knows the feeling and will tell me he has to go, but would rather flush the toilet instead.Yesterday, all he wanted to do was to be in his underwear. He did use the toilet a couple of times, but urinated on himself the rest of the time. Still progress!! A few months ago he could care less and would rather run around naked. Now, because of his obsession with cars, trucks, and dinosaurs I've exploited that obsession to get him to wear the underwear and hopefully not soil himself. It kind of works. He likes the pictures of dinosaurs and cars and can hold his little bladder for a few hours. I guess we'll see where we're at in a few more months.

 I have learned that it's not really potty-training so much as it is potty-learning. Mikah's learning to listen to his body's cues, learning to communicate that with me, and I'm learning to listen and understand him so that we can work together to get him "house-broken". Haha! Times like these I wish I could remember how I was potty trained. I remember my sister (the pregnant one) still in diapers when I was four and remember that I was in big girl panties, but nothing really before then. That at least gives me some relief to know that somewhere between now and age 4 it'll happen.

 Any pro tips for PLing a little boy?