Andrew's struggle to be "bigger"

Potty training did not come as easy for Andrew as it had for Sydney. He is five now and is still struggling at night. Every night he wears a pull-up, something that has really not bothered him until recently. I, of course, have spent a great deal of time feeling like a failure as a parent.

We have restricted his liquid intake hours before bedtime. He uses the restroom before he goes to bed. Every night as we tuck him in we make sure he understands that, should he feel the need to use the bathroom in the middle of the night, he can wake one of us up without recourse. And yet, every morning is different. Some days he wakes up completely dry. Other mornings he wakes up soaked completely through the pull-up, jammies and bed sheets. It completely baffles me. How does he not feel wet and cold in the middle of the night?

But he soooo wants to be "bigger". Apparently, in his mind he won't truly be "bigger" until he can sleep without a pull-up...like his sister. How sad really because I believe it is something beyond his control. I think he sleeps soundly enough that he lacks the ability to wake when he would normally feel the urge.

So last week he asked me when he would be able to sleep without the pull-up and so we made a deal. "If you can go five nights with a dry pull-up, you can sleep without one." He was sooo excited about this plan and for the first three mornings the pull-up was dry and he would remind me how many days he had left. The fourth and fifth mornings were a different story and the disappointment and embarrassment in his face were almost too much to take. In my mind I had figured five consecutive days but I just did not have the heart to make him start over.

It has been seven days since our deal started and this morning was the fifth dry pull-up. So tonight we all celebrated as he put his jammies on over his bare bottom. I tucked him in with fingers crossed and a little bit of hope that when he wakes in the morning he finally feels "bigger".