Toilet Training Woes: My Toddler Will Only Pee In The Bushes

The good news: My 3-year-old is finally expressing an interest in toilet training. The bad news: he refuses to pee anywhere other than the bushes. No, really, he thinks the world is his toilet. Part of me thinks it’s awesome, another part of me is mortified. I mean, it’s fine if he wants to go in our backyard why not, right? but it does get kind of awkward when we’re at the neighbors’ and I find him, er, watering their plants without any warning whatsoever.

The best is when we’re in the house and he tells me, “I need to make a pee, Mommy.” I run to the bathroom to help him out, only to find him standing at the front door, Crocs in hand. “Bushes, Mommy, I want to pee in the bushes!” I try and explain that we’re indoors and he is to use an actual toilet, but he’ll have none of it. Once he peed on the floor while I was explaining this to him, and another time he just opened the front door himself and peed on our walkway.

The other evening, we were playing ball on our front yard when my little guy pulled down his shorts and underwear and began peeing in our lilac hedges. “Look at me, I’m peeing!” he told a couple of amused passersby. The trick, of course, will be getting him to pee in an actual toilet with the same enthusiasm.

I’m just so excited about the idea of a diaper-free existence that part of me doesn’t even care. It’s bad parenting, I know my husband is way more into teaching him to do the right thing (i.e., the toilet thing) but I just want to break into tears (of joy) every time our little guy announces he needs to go potty. Is that so wrong?

(Photo: Texturis/Shutterstock)