The facts of life

Fact: non-parents think they will have parenting figured out by the time they procreate.
Fact: new parents are very good about reading on the latest parenting techniques.
Fact: there are three things parents cannot control over their offspring. Sleeping. Eating. Bowel movements. Those are entirely up to the child, and they should be.
Fact: trying to get a child to sleep properly, eat properly, and out of diapers really makes you question all of your parenting skills. It's incredible how quickly your sanity and all that you thought was good and pure and beautiful in the world vanishes.

Precious children with their little fingers and their baby teeth and their tiny soft bums do that to you.

It's evil.

I'll spare you the details, but Thursday and Friday were bad enough that I was THIS CLOSE to throwing in the towel and running away from home. We had a breakthrough on Friday when Kent's signal became apparent (holding his crotch). I learned a few things that applies to Kent specifically: 1) Never ask him if he has to go. He will always say no and then he will hold it for another hour or more, and then his bladder will explode. 2) You have to give him the opportunity to make a choice for himself: pee his shorts or sit on the potty. So pull his pants down and walk away silent. 3) Kent is annoyed by the topic all together, so it's best never to talk about it except "tell me when you have to go peepee/caca" 1-3 times a day. 4) Kent is a camel and he can hold it longer than you think. The more you remind him about the potty topic, the longer he will hold it, just because.

The breakthrough came after his bladder erupted Friday morning after holding it for 2.5 hours. Yes, that's 150 minutes after I first saw him grab his crotch. That same morning, 3 minutes after we entered a store, he made a beautifully symmetrical puddle on the carpet. Before opening the front door, I had even reminded him that peepee goes in the potty, not in shorts in the store. It took a whole 3 minutes to bike to the store, so this was going to be a super quick errand. Instead it was a super quick pee. I was mortified, to say the least. After that, something clicked and he's been asking to go. In fact, that very afternoon, he went on a big toilet in a public bathroom!! I was shocked. We've done a few more quick outings: once to the store for 3 items, once to the library, once to the park, and a few times in the backyard. He even asked to go peepee while he was in the bath tonight!

All to say, I'm so glad I didn't run away from home. I'm glad I pushed through and that I backed off from Kent. Turns out he knows his body cues and he hates being told what to do! How comforting it is to know that my kid is a typical toddler.

Also - on Wednesday he said his first sentence: I want gapes (grapes)!