Potty Training

What Potty Training has taught me:

• You can lead a horse to water but you can't make it drink.
• I wanted Brayden to be potty trained when I was ready, and wasn't even aware that he wasn't ready yet. Though for some people this method works, the method of having Brayden sit on the potty until he "accidentally" went, didn't work at all for him, he just didn't get it.
• It's alright to have accidents.
• That's another one of those "bigger than the situation" lessons I feel I was taught again. We have accidents in life, we make mistakes and it's ok. That's what I tell Brayden (in 2 year old form) when he has an accident. Sometimes he isn't too bent out of shape that he has had one, and other times he has this serious look of dissapointment on his face that I can see go away when I tell him its alright and encourage him to keep trying.
• Encouragement works.
• Something I have enjoyed even more than Brayden succeeding at potty training, is Brayden's pride in his accomplishments before his Daddy and me. He runs to us SO excited every time and does his little "potty dance". I love that he seeks out that praise from Mike even more than me, and I love how much it means to him when Mike makes a huge deal out of his success. I attribute Brayden's potty training success to Mike's encouragement. Both to me, to keep trying and finding new ways to teach Bray, and to Brayden to keep it up.
• Take it a day at a time.
• Brayden isn't potty trained. He is training. And we are all ok with that. Today he had two accidents, but had some major successes, like #2 on the potty, waking up telling me he had to go, and asking to go on his own without me having to ask him. For the past three days Brayden has gone through his naps completely dry, even though he wears a diaper just in case. It will be awhile before we try to "night" train him because he is such a deep sleeper, but that's ok, we're taking it one day at a time, just like I need to remind myself to take my life and my problems one step at a time!

These are just a few of the things that have been on my mind while we've gone through this process. I didnt realize that something as silly as potty training would make me think of how it relates to life, but since I struggled so much with wanting Brayden to be trained, and how to train him, etc. I realized how much I have been taught through this. Poor Brayden has had it much harder than his little sister will because I am learning everything with Brayden, and hopefully will be better at it the second time around.  But yes, potty training has been successful so far, a couple of accidents here or there, not making it to the potty on time, etc. But Brayden is really enjoying training and doing it at his own pace and it's fun to watch him learn and become more independent too!