The war is over

Periodically I have talked to you about our attempts and failures of the new world of potty training (maybe I am naive but I really thought kids just one day started to pee and poo in the potty without much fuss?)... I figure I need to finish this story so that you can have some closure. After months of near misses, dismal failures, disgusting messes (some of which happened on a day when we had no water), few successes, tantrums (from Mummy), an impressive display of stubborn resolve from Josh, bribery, tricks, brute force,(all of this of course was met with cheeky grins from Josh as he ran in the opposite direction) alarms, stickers, candy, toys, a treasure bag and finally the promise of a BIG present of his choice from Toys' R Us if he would just learn to use the potty. I am so happy to let you know that though many battles were lost, MUMMY WON THE WAR! My son, is happily potty trained!! In the end it took countless starts and stops, and finally after Christmas I took two weeks where I didn't go anywhere, do anything, but focus on words like 'pee and poo' and spend countless hours in full on battle with my eldest son.

The great thing about Josh, is that he IS stubborn and strong willed. It has served him well as he battles his Cardiac issues and resulting delays. He is a fighter, a warrior that has won many battles of his own, and most of those battles I have stood by his side with sword in hand. This war however saw us on opposite sides. Let me assure you, he is a worthy adversary! He nearly did me in a number of times (I am sure I am still suffering the effects of post traumatic stress), at the end of the day, once he was in bed, I would strip off my armor and flop on the couch to lick my wounds.

Yesterday, after a full week and a half of him telling me when he needed to go to the washroom, after he stopped having any accidents, after he began to go independently to the washroom, we made the final trek with white flags raised, to the Toy store!!

As we drove we told Josh where we were going, and more importantly why. When I had finished he smiled really big and said 'BIG TOY', he was grinning from ear to ear. Now, he must have done some serious thinking about what he wanted before we even hit the store, because as we walked through the store he didn't stop to look at anything, he wandered around looking for what? We didn't know, and then he saw him, his eyes a light with that discovery.

"Spiderman" he yelled and went racing away from us and directly to the toy of his choice, the wisecracking Spiderman!! He hasn't let him go since he first picked him off the shelf, and as he runs around the house pretending that Spidey is swinging on his webs, I find that I am not even sad to see him 'out of diapers'. The relief is just so pure, so beautiful, so restful. I have my son back, the fighting knight is resting for the moment and his Mummy is going to sit back, glass of wine in hand, and enjoy this season of peace... because in no time at all, the battle for Kaleb will begin!