Potty-training plateaus

I was chatting recently with some mothers of toddlers William's age, and we got to talking about potty training.

As I expected, the mothers with little girls were able to report more success. One of them even sends her daughter to school in panties--real, honest to God underwear!--on a regular basis. And yes, we were all duly impressed. But the moms of boys pretty much all reported the same: little to no progress, at least not recently. Some of the boys weren't interested at all, while others, including William, are only willing up to a point. William's hit a plateau, where he's willing to sit on the potty a couple times a day, but only rarely will he ask to go any other time.

Now, I've read all the books and info about potty-training, and I realize that it's perfectly normal for a boy who is just over two-and-a-half years old to not be fully potty-trained. I'm really not that worried about it at this point. William has his Thomas the Tank Engine underpants that he gets to wear for an hour or so before bed each night, and he seems to enjoy that and usually manages to keep them dry. So I have faith (mostly) that one day, he'll catch on to the whole idea and shun diapers for All-Thomas-All-The-Time.

But I did have a moment of panic the other day when I got online and read the application for the preschool that William will be attending in the fall. Per the application, the school requires the children to have bladder and bowel control. And I had a sit-up-straight flash of "Oh my GOD! How on earth am I ever going to get him to achieve that?" Then I remembered, "Oh yeah. That's like nine months off. I've got time." And I relaxed. For the time being.

David recently suggested that we buy some lollipops to bribe...er, convince William to consider going number two on the potty. I guess David's a little more anxious than I am about it, given that he's willing to actually consider giving candy to his beloved son. I'm way more lenient about things like that, in case you don't remember the butterscotch-pudding-and-Froot-Loops episode from our big cross-country move in July 2007. But David tends to be stricter about these things, and so for him to advocate the use of a candy bribe...er, persuasive device...means he must be worried. Maybe we'll give that a shot. My mom potty-trained me with those little candy Valentine's Day hearts, and she potty-trained my brother with M&Ms, and neither of us are big candy-hounds. I mean, my kid voluntarily eats broccoli. I don't think a few lollipops are going to hurt him.

So we'll see.