Adventures in Potty Training

In our house, anyone who puts pee or poop in the potty gets to ring a bell. It's very exciting. And loud, so it let's the whole household know what's going on.

Yesterday morning before school, Tai peed in the potty, rang the bell, and then put on underwear. A mere 10 minutes later he peed while standing by the couch in the playroom. We rushed to the potty to see if he could finish there, but he told me that "I peed it all out in my underwear." We put on dry underwear and moved on. I tossed a hand towel down on the wet spot, stepped on it a couple times, and tossed the towel in the washer. A little toddler pee is no big deal, I figured.

That evening, we were all down in the playroom and Minh asked why the floor by the couch was wet. I recounted the story and explained that I must not have cleaned up very well after the accident. Minh grabbed a fresh towel, threw it down and stepped on it. And when that was soaked through he grabbed another towel and did the same. And then another. After he had soaked 4 or 5 towels we decided we either had a kid with the world's largest bladder or there was some secondary source of dampness.

Minh did the Sniff Test and determined that the cats had not taken it upon themselves to mark the spot where Tai had peed (whew!)

Then he went in the utility room (to get another towel) and found water all over the basement floor. Rain was literally streaming in by the bulkhead door. So....after living here for 6 years with a bone dry unfinished basement, we now have a sopping wet finished basement. Awesome.

Minh stayed up till 3am last night using the shop vac to suck up as much as he could, while the rain continued. Due to those efforts, we seem to have contained the wetness to one corner of the playroom. Luckily, the company that did the work "guarantees" it and will come out soon to assess the situation and make a plan to resolve problem. But, somehow, even after living without a playroom for so many years, the thought of living without one for (days? weeks? a month?) is horrifying.

The good news is, Tai kept his underwear dry all morning at school. And the Potty Bell was rung last night before bed and again this morning. We're getting there.....