Learning To Use The Potty (private for Carrie96 and me)

[Carrie96]

Sharon unpacked their things from the lake, cleaned up a little bit, and decided to lie down with James and take a nap for herself. She squeezed into James's toddler bed beside him and snuggled against him.


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[Omo90210]

James unconsciously spooned himself into Sharon's side when she got in the bed, never waking.

[Carrie96]

Sharon woke up when she felt James stirring. She'd put him straight down for his nap when they got home after thirty minutes in the car without taking him to the potty, so she was sure he had wet himself during his nap. "Hi, sweetie," she murmured, slowly opening her eyes and gently squeezing the front of his diaper through his pajamas. "Are you wet?"


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[Omo90210]

James nodded, trying to look sad.

[Carrie96]

"It's okay, honey. Mommy was lazy and didn't take you to go potty before your nap. I expected you to wake up wet. Mommy will get you cleaned up, okay?" Sharon got up and got a clean pair of training pants and an outfit for James, but then remembered his request to wear big-boy pants the day before. "Do you still want to try big-boy underwear today?" She hoped the answer was no, but she was also a little curious to see how he would do.


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[Omo90210]

James looked thoughtful.

[Carrie96]

"I'll still take you to the potty before and after naps, when you wake up in the morning, before bed, and before we get in the car, but I'll also expect you to start remembering to do that on your own. I also won't remind you to go at other times if you haven't been in a while or if you look like you need to potty. Even if I can tell you're about to wet your pants, I'm not going to remind you to go. You'll have to remember to go on your own. Also, you'll wear training pants for naps and when we leave the house, so if we're out and you pee-pee in your pants, your clothes will get wet. You'll still wear diapers at night, though."


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[Omo90210]

"Training pants," James said quickly.

[Carrie96]

"Good choice." Sharon helped James step into his training pants and got him dressed. "Let's go try to potty, and then we'll get a snack."


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[Omo90210]

James was able to let out a little bit of pee-pee when his mommy took him to the potty, but he'd gotten most of it out while he was sleeping.

[Carrie96]

"Good boy." Sharon helped him wash his hands and took him to the kitchen for a snack. When he was finished, she settled in the chair in the living room with him and his sippy cup to watch a movie. He still seemed tired from playing at the lake that morning and all day the day before. "Remember to pay attention to when you have to go potty. I know you haven't had to do that much in the last couple of days from being in the water, but you have to pay attention now. Please don't pee-pee on Mommy."


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[Omo90210]

James nodded and cuddled against Sharon to watch the movie.

[Carrie96]

Sharon nodded sheepishly. "Much. The nap helped a lot."


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[Omo90210]

James looked confused.

[Carrie96]

Sharon smiled. "No, baby. Mommy was just, um...Tired."


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[Omo90210]

Paul sat on the couch to watch the movie with Sharon and James.

Near the end of the movie, James was starting to have to pee-pee pretty bad, and he started to just let it out like he'd done the last couple of days in the lake.

[Carrie96]

"Wha--oh, honey, let's go potty. Are you already pee-peeing?" She asked as she scrambled to get up.


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[Omo90210]

"Not anymore, but it's about to come out again!" James said, with desperation in his voice. He squeezed his legs together and clutched his crotch as hard as he could.

"I'll take him." Paul jumped up,

[Carrie96]

"Did he make it?" Sharon asked, surprised that James was wearing the same shorts when they came back to the living room.


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[Omo90210]

"Not quite," Paul answered.

[Carrie96]

Sharon restarted the movie she'd paused during the potty rush and kissed James's forehead. "It's okay, honey. Good job for pooping in the potty!"


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[Omo90210]

A couple of months later, James was three months away from turning three, and he was doing a lot better with using the potty.

[Carrie96]

One morning when Sharon got up with James, she got a pair of his big-boy underwear to put on him instead of his cloth training pants. He'd had the same pattern with occasional accidents for several weeks, now, and she thought the added pressure of being in big-boy pants would help help him through the plateau he'd seemed to come to with potty-training and help reduce the number of accidents.


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[Omo90210]

James eyed the underwear warily. He was okay with wearing them at home, but he wasn't ready to give up his pull-ups when they left the house.

[Carrie96]

"I'll tell you what. You can still wear pull-ups when we go out for a little while longer, but then you'll have to wear training pants after that. You're a big boy, and you have to learn to tell Mommy or Daddy when you need to potty while we're out," Sharon said, sensing his reluctance. They hadn't pushed the 'pottying in public' issue at all, so she wanted to ease him into it.


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