Order Horizon

Tales from the potty front

We’re starting a new phase of the Charles potty war. We’ve decided to restrict car purchases for Charles. Instead of getting a car every time he goes to WalMart, we’re giving him a sticker for every potty use and then a car for every five stickers. Charles was excited about getting a sticker yesterday morning for using the potty. However, Charles seemed to be more resigned to not getting a car than putting stickers on his card.

This is consistent with other behaviour on the part of Charles. Because he poops so often (4-5 times a day) and doesn’t mind a dirty diaper he frequently gets a bit of diaper rash. This makes a diaper change an unpleasant experience (which I don’t try to mitigate, as it is a policy goal to discourage the use of diapers). When Charles objects to getting cleaned up, I point out that this wouldn’t be necessary if he used the potty. This doesn’t make him want to use the potty but it does quiet him down. I can only suppose that he’s made the decision to endure the diaper rash rather than use the potty.

What’s bizarre is that Charles doesn’t dislike the potty itself, only using it. If he doesn’t have to go he’s fine with sitting on the potty, sometimes for extended periods. It is only the actual use of the potty to which he objects.

Charles does have a reasonable amount of control over his bowels. He never poops at daycare. He poops before and after but never there, which can only mean that he’s got enough control to avoid that situation. The upside of that is that it means we have to supply a lot fewer diapers to daycare.