Potty Training and how it relates to Careers (this should be interesting)

I think a person's personality can be summed up by how well they react and approach being potty trained.

I was 8 months pregnant when my daughter turned 2 years old.  My husband was hell bent on me having her potty trained before the arrival of my son, and he thought at the age of 2 she should be ready.  God forbid we have two children in diapers.

I tried unsuccessfully and became a very mean and nasty person because she was so uncooperative.  It was by far the worst parental experience of my motherhood to this point.  Nothing seemed to work.  No matter what I did, she just wasn't ready.  It didn't help that she has a very strong personality.  She knows what she wants and she doesn't cave until she gets her way.  She will definitely make a wonderful Attorney someday if she so chooses.  Although today she wants to be a Veterinarian and I highly encourage that if that is what she wants to be 13 years from now!  I remember snuggling with her one night before she turned three years old and having a discussion about being a "big girl".  Not only were we having problems with the whole potty training gig, she was still very much attached to a "binky".  So we were able to shed the "binky" with some serious negotiations!  Successful potty training came down to one simple thing.  She had to be ready to be a big girl.  She had to choose to want to be a big girl all by herself.  So that night, we discussed that 3 year olds are "big kids" and that most 3 year olds are potty trained.  I told her she had a month or so before she turned 3 and that she might want to think about when she wanted to be a "big girl".   For several weeks she kept asking me when she was turning 3.  So I would tell her.  Two weeks before her 3rd birthday, she told me she was read to wear big girl underwear because "you know, I'll be 3 really soon".  So that day was her turning point, she wore big girl underwear and did fabulously.  She did have one accident and I sort of was "stern" with her, and then she never had another one again.  It was that simple.  I spent a whole year creating a huge monster inside of me and all I needed to do is let her tell me when she was ready.  I regret that year of my life more than anyone will ever know.

My son, thought potty training was super cool when he turned 2 years old.  He would tell me he wanted to go on the potty chair.  So I'd take him and sometimes he would go and sometimes he wouldn't.  I vowed to myself that I would not pressure my son like I did my daughter.  That potty training will happen in its own time.  I thought wow, my son actually is showing interest and he's only 2 years old.  So I encouraged this journey as best I could and then he caught a cold and that was the end of that!  My window of opportunity came and went so fast I spun around mach speed.

My son is now 3 years old.  He can go potty on the potty chair but he chooses not to.  For instance today, we were getting ready to go to the rec center outdoor pool and I told him he needed to go potty before I could put his "swim diaper on".  He initially told me "no" but then while applying sunscreen on my daughter he went all by himself.  Removed his pull-up and went in the bathroom, peed and then came back naked from the waist down hopping like a rabbit in excitement with a swim diaper in his hand.  So I know the child can do it, he just chooses not to.  He is stubborn like a mule!  But then he'll come back to you and sweet talk you.  He'll know you are so frustrated and get you to the point where you just want to explode - and then he'll say "I love you Mommy"!  So I'm concerned my son is going to be a Con-artist when he grows up.