It was a long night for both Justin and Amy. In light of recent events Amy had made the decision to start again with Justin's potty training and all Justin knew his mom had something in mind, but he had no idea what. He layer in bed playing back the last couple of days in his mind. First he peed his pants in class, then wet himself in his sleep in the nurse's office, an accident his mother still didn't know about, was put into a pull-up right in front of his crush, and now he had wet his bed for the first time in several months and was once again put in a pull-up. Justin didn't know what his mom had planned, but he could sense that these training pants might be part of it.
The kid was right though. Amy had been doing her research and planning for this process just in case it became necessary and with multiple accidents within a few days, it was clear Justin was not at the proper potty stage as someone his age should be. The saddest part of her realization was that in order to start over with toilet training she had to undo all the progress that was made. It seemed a little that Justin was already going backwards, but now he was going to have to go all the way backwards, and she knew how devastated and embarrassing this was going to be for her son, but it was better to fix this now then have him wetting himself into adulthood.
The first step in reverse potty-training was to first see how long one can hold their bladder before having an accident. This step was already done when Justin peed his pants at school, so now he could jump to the training pants stage. She wasn't going to let Justin know what she was doing. The regression had to happen naturally, but it was going to happen. She had already called Justin's teacher and explained to her the situation. Justin was going to be sent to school in a pull-up and he would not be allowed to use the restroom until after the time of his original accident. If he could make it until then, perhaps this was a fluke and he could move right back up to underwear, but Amy knew there was no way that could be the case and her son was destined to have another accident in class. She hated that for him, but at least this time he would be protected and no one would have to know. Ms. Lowe thought the idea was a little unorthodox but she couldn't argue with the logic and it was ultimately the parent's decision.
Justin woke up after his restless night and felt around his bedding, happy to find it dry. He then reached into his pajamas to inspect his diaper and was relieved to find that dry too. He got out of bed and began to change for school when Amy walked in.
"Hey, buddy. How's the pull-up?"
"Dry." Justin replied with a small amount of joy as he began to slide it off.
"That's great sweetie, but I think it would be best for you to go ahead and wear that for the day."
"What?" Justin replied shocked. "But, Mom, I'm not a baby. i don't need these."
"I know you're not a baby, sweetheart, but Mommy still thinks it would be best. Just in case. If you can stay dry the next few days, then we can go back to normal. Please do this for me?"
Justin felt defeated. He knew this was coming and he really couldn't argue. He gave in to his mother's decision and proceeded to get dressed with his pull-up still on, but he wanted to prove that he was the big kid he was supposed to be and decided to make sure he kept his pants, and bed, dry. No more of this being too shy to use the bathroom. If he needed to pee, he was going to ask, and he was going to make sure to pee before bed at night to prevent any accidents. Justin had no idea though that the adults in his life were plotting for the exact opposite.
Amy and Justin both headed out the door and to the car where Amy fastened Justin into his booster seat and handed him a sippy cup of apple juice. "I know the cup is embarrassing, Justin, but I don't want you spilling it on the way to school. You don't want your classmates knowing about your pull-ups, what do you think they'd think if it looked like you peed your pants? 'Oh, I spilled my drink' is the oldest trick in the book. I don't think they'd believe you, buddy."
Justin didn't even want the juice knowing that it would definitely make him need to pee, but Amy had given him a salty breakfast, obviously on purpose, and he was very thirsty. Amy felt horrible about scheming her son to pee himself, but it had to be done. By the time they pulled up to the school Justin had finished his juice and there was already a slight pressure in his bladder. Proving he was a big kid was going to be a lot harder than he knew.
