This summer I spent a lot of time trying to plan when the best time to potty train Ben would be.

School starts in a month and if he’s not potty trained I’ll be home with three kids instead of two next year!

I drove Kristen and everyone else around me nuts trying to plan the perfect first three days for this epic event. What we would do these three days, which kid would do what while Ben learned this all important skill.

Then, last week I ran out of diapers. And so, instead of buying more I started potty training.

In the end, after all that talk there was no big plan like I had with Jack. Jack and I sat around a towel covered couch watching shows and drinking lots for three days. I had him bare bottomed. I asked him every two seconds if he wanted to go potty. I bribed with candy. I got frustrated. I yelled. I got in done in three days.

Grandpa Devensky and Aaron at the Beach today

Ben? I just put on underwear and hope for the best. It’s been a week now.

The peeing part has gone a lot better than it did with Jack. He can hold it for longer and gives tell tale signs when he has to go (grabbing his privates). He also willingly sits on the potty without fighting you.

The poo part is a different story.

Three mornings ago Adam found he’d pooped on his bedroom floor.

Yesterday morning he was awfully quiet in his bedroom. By the time I had put the twins down for their first nap and was able to check on him it was too late.

I smelled something unpleasant in the bedroom the minute I walked in. I looked up and  there, on the foot of Jack’s bed was a log of poop. When I climbed up to the top bunk to see what was going on I found a Ben under the covers. I lifted up the covers and there he was, in child’s pose, covered in poop.

Kristen calls Sam’s sleep position ‘The Starfish”

I do find it interesting that he picked Jack’s bed instead of his own to defecate on.

Kristen was the unlucky one to find the poop today. We were at the beach and he decided to go in his pants. She washed the shorts out as best she could and, like a cat, buried the rest of it in the sand.

Zack, Angus and Jack Burying Max