Potty training is a bitch. It lures you in with promises of never having to change a diaper again then turns into the most stressful parenting event EVER…so far.

I swore that I would NEVER blog about this. I didn’t want to be THAT “mommy blogger.” But I have to. I need help.

Aric is AMAZING at getting his pee into the big toilet, even without a child seat. He hasn’t had a pee accident since last Thursday. He even did an outing to both Target and Nana’s house with no accidents. The trouble is with #2. He won’t go. Not in his underwear  Not in his pull up. Certainly not in his toilet. He’ll announce that he has to poop, then pushes once and says “I try again later. It’s not comin’ too well.”

Bribes don’t work any more. Movies, treats, and trips to “Old McDonald’s” have all been denied. I’m so worried that the longer he goes, the more it will hurt when he finally DOES, which will scare him and start the cycle all over again.

I’ve upped the fiber in his diet and I’ll probably go out and get him some juice later … I might even go so far as to get him prune juice. At this point going back to diapers is NOT an option. He’s s proud of himself for peeing on the potty and LOVES wearing his new underwear (so much so that he tried to take off his pants at daycare drop off yesterday to show them off!) and I don’t want to traumatize him by taking that away. Shoot, I have a VIVID memory of when I was about Aric’s age and my dad put me in diapers because I’d had an accident. I’m not doing that to him.

Today I’m going to try NOT talking about it. I’ll let him lead. When he brings it up we’ll go and I’ll set a timer. He’ll have to sit until the timer goes off. Hopefully in that time he’ll try to go, but at least we won’t be power struggling about whether he can or can’t get up.

Beyond that, does anyone have any suggestions? I’m grasping at straws here.