must be watching.
The Bedtime Potty Pit
You know how in the game Candy Land there are these pits like the
gooey Chocolate Swamp that you can get stuck in? Yeah . . . in potty
training there’s a classic one I call the “Bedtime Potty Pit.”
It can occur at two possible times: before giving up nighttime
diapers and after giving up nighttime diapers. For brevity, I’ll refer to
nighttime only, but the same applies for nap time.
It looks something like this: Aaron does great all day long. His
mom, Angela, can now trust him to use the potty during the day. He
either tells her he has to go or does a really clear pee-pee dance.
Daytime is all set. Aaron’s bedtime is 7:30. There are the usual three
stories and two songs. Dad’s in charge of brushing teeth and pjs.
Everything looks pretty good, almost out of a Lifetime movie. Then
Aaron says, “I have to pee.” Okay. Pjs off, night diaper off, Aaron sits
to pee. Shockingly, there’s no pee. Diaper back on. Pjs back on. Tuck
Aaron in . . . almost out of the room. “Pee! I got to pee!” Pjs off.
Diaper off. Sit to pee. Hmm. No pee. You can rinse, lather, and
repeat for . . . oh . . . however many times you can imagine. Even
better is the poop call, ’cause that just might lead to, let’s say, forty
minutes of reading to Aaron on the potty all for a poop.
It’s classic. And freaking exhausting. Now, it’s 8:30 and well past
bedtime, which makes for the most charming behavior. But what do
you do? Do you honor the pee and poop call? I mean, you’ve done all
this hard work, right? What if he means it? But what if he doesn’t?