Zack, meet the potty.

As you know, I'm working on potty training a 7 year old (well two of them, actually, but one at a time.)

This summer is THE summer. It's going to happen.

Maybe. I don't know. It hasn't gone well so far, and I have serious doubts. I just don't know if Zack's ever going to get it.

Here's how it's gone, so far.

SATURDAY
Zack sat on the potty every 15 minutes, from about 8:30 AM to 7:00 PM. He had no successes. But this was day one, my expectations weren't high. It was okay, and I was psyched to crack down bright and early the next morning.

SUNDAY
We got up and started back into the routine. Zack sat on the potty twice, and just before I was set to bring him to the bathroom for the third round, he threw up. He laid in the recliner and writhed around, screaming like he was in pain for 2 hours. He threw up three times.

My first thought was, he is so stressed out from the potty pressure yesterday, he's made himself sick. My second was, he's constipated, because of all the potty pressure yesterday. My third? Appendicitis. We took him to Urgent Care and waited 3 1/2 hours to finally find out he had Strep. If that sounds familiar, it's because he's had Strep 5 times in the last 10 months. Apparently, severe abdominal pain alone can be a symptom of Strep.

When we got home, we were all exhausted. Neither, Zack, Mark, nor I was in any shape to push our potty agenda. We took the night off. So much for day two of my intense potty training program.

MONDAY
First thing in the morning, I wasn't 100% positive Zack was feeling 100% yet. We relaxed and took Aliza to basketball. Right after an early lunch, we got down to work. No successes. We saw #s 1 and 2, but never actually in the bathroom.

TUESDAY
Back to the grind. Today, Zack spent somewhere between 4 and 5 hours in the bathroom. He was pretty agreeable, all things considered. But he does not get it.

He did pee on the pot once (note that I said ON. Not IN.) but it was an accident. He was surprised. He looked down like, what the heck was that? I let him get up off the potty right away, and take a good break. I praised him and all that, but to tell you the truth, we were probably well into our third hour on the potty, and I'd stopped really paying much attention. I mean, how long can one hover and watch?

So I don't know. Did that count as a success? Did I destroy our chances of getting this done by not going nuts with praise when he did, finally, actually pee in the vicinity of the potty? Even though I don't know if he even realized he did it?

Ugh.

Later tonight, I was helping him get dressed after his bath, and he burped his peanut butter and jelly breath, right in my face. I waved my hand in front of my nose, and he giggled and said "pee-uuu!"

Stubborn, frustrating, but so darn cute.