On Saturday morning Dean woke up early as usual around 6 am. He's adjusted back to China time and wakes up at almost the same time every day rain or shine. While contemplating what to spend the day doing, I decided to pull out the plastic training potty we bought right after Christmas and start getting the little guy familiar with it. He's become very fascinated with the toilet lately, and this week started saying the words "pee pee" and "poo poo" for the first time.
At 19 months old, Dean is still a little young for potty training by today's U.S. standards, but he's ancient by Chinese standards. Every Chinese person I've met with young children began potty training as soon as the baby was born. Most babies don't wear diapers during the day by 6 months unless traveling or special occasions such as going out to dinner. They often wear "split-crotch" pants which are not sewn closed between the legs. I've lost count of how many bare baby bums I've seen hanging out in the open, but I've not been here long enough to avoid staring a little when a person holding a baby suddenly dangles them over a bush or trash can to use the bathroom.
Before moving to China one of my coworkers sent me 2 pairs of split-crotch pants for Dean. I had a good laugh showing them off to friends and family. Matt and I talked about transitioning to them when we moved here, but in reality, it was just too foreign for us to tackle. Plus, diapers are easy to find here and cost the same or a little less than in the U.S. depending on where you buy them.
While in the U.S. I talked with my Aunt Sally who said she was able to potty train quickly using a bare bottom / no pants for a day method. Since we don't have carpet in our apartment, I figured it was harmless and worth a try.
At first it worked great. Dean was excited and happy the first 2-3 times I asked him if he wanted to use the potty. An hour into the training process he even ran to the plastic bowl by himself and proceeded to use it while Matt and I looked on in astonishment. Ha - how easy! I thought.
I'm not sure what happened after that - maybe he tired of the "game" we were playing? About 3 hours in he refused to play along, growling and screaming in revolt when I would ask if he was ready to use the potty. He then began deliberately running away from me when he had to go, and before I could catch him there would be a trail of pee pee down the hall or in the bedroom. The funny thing is that he knew what happened, and would say "uh oh, pee pee" while pointing to the drips and puddles all over the house.
After a couple hours of this I was done. I gave up and put a diaper back on him. It's just not going to happen in a day.
My new plan is to wait until it gets a little warmer outside, then try putting split-crotch pants on Dean and spend the day playing in the park next to our apartment with the little red potty in tow. Matt thinks this is a terrible idea, and is embarrassed by the idea of our little guy's "junk" hanging out in the open. We'll keep you posted on the progress...
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