potty training woes

Well, I don't know about all the rest of you parents out there, but potty training has been the hardest and most frustrating part about being a parent for me. When we started potty training Shailey at about age 2-2 1/2 it was a lot of ups and downs and we finally gave up. And you know what happened? She finally did it once she ready just after her third birthday. So I came to realization that you can't force a child to learn if they don't want to.

So, what do you do if you have a child that wants to learn...but isn't ready? For the longest time Eli has been so excited about using the potty like his big sister. He wants to wear big boy underwear...but the poor kid just does not GET it. He has gone potty on the toilet about three times in the last few months and I think we got lucky those three times. I just don't think he understands that feeling of "Oh! I have to go now!" I have been trying the fifteen minute timer thing of taking him in every fifteen minutes and not only has it NOT been working (he goes in his pull-ups inbetween each fifteen minute increment) but it is extremely tiring for me to take him in every fifteen minutes. I feel like I get nothing accomplished during the day. I feel so bad for him because he has the desire to learn I just don't think he's totally ready. He hasn't had that "Aha! So this is how it all works!" moment yet.

Isaac is interested in the potty, too, believe it or not. But he's not interested in going in the potty. He's interested in putting in the potty. That kid is fascinated with throwing anything he can get his hands on into the toilet. Let me just give you a sampling of what he has thrown into the toilet: fingernail clippers, toothpaste (thank goodness no toothbrushes have been thrown in there!), shampoo, chapstick, lip gloss, a quarter of a roll of toilet paper (and yes, I did fear that the toilet was going to overflow after that one), several small toys, and probably the most interesting one to date was a small can of green chiles. (Gross, huh? Did you really think I was going to use those chiles after that?? I don't CARE if they're sealed in a can! Yuck!) So I have to keep a watchful eye on him since he always seems to do it when I'm in the bathroom, too. Now you'd think that if I were a halfway decent parent that I would be able to catch my child putting something into the toilet if I were standing right there, right? But I'm telling you that this kid has freakishly fast reflexes and can seriously throw something in there in the blink of an eye. I'm just lucky that he hasn't figured out flushing. So I may have to buckle down and buy one of those child safety locks for the toilet. I can just see it now though: Shailey comes crying to me that she had an accident because she couldn't get the toilet lid up! That'd be a whole new mess of problems to deal with. Oh the (un)joys of potty training!