Potty Training 101

This post is more for me to remember what we did to make the great leap to the "big pobby" as the Little Guy used to call it.  I know that we are a long way away from having 2 potty trained children but I also think this time came WAY too soon and for some reason no one has told me how to make my children grow up slower.  So if you aren't interested in reading how the Little Guy learned to use the potty feel free to skip this post!

I had heard about various "stay at home" methods from different friends.  3-day, 1-day....however many days.  Regardless they all involved pumping your pants-less child with as much juice as they could drink and running them to the potty every time you saw signs that they were getting ready to "go".

I wanted to do it when Peter had a couple of days off of work so he could help me with the baby while I focused completely on the Little Guy.  I also wanted to do it long before we thought we might be traveling or spending any length of time in an airplane or car.

We choose New Year's weekend....what a FUN way to ring in 2013!

When we woke up that morning the Little Guy got to put on the underwear of his choice.  He likes Mickey Mouse and Diego and then I had an assortment of fun underwear from Gymboree to choose from.  Helicopters...baseball...airplanes...monkeys.  All things I thought he'd be excited about.

We don't drink juice in our house normally so he thought it was AMAZING to be drinking it like it was his job.  I got the Mott's Tots version which has less sugar and diluted it about 70/30 with water.  Then we went up to his room and "played" all morning.  Every time he started to go we would run to the bathroom and sit on the potty and try to get as much peepee in the potty as we could.

We had a number of successes the first morning and he woke up from his nap dry.  We continued the rest of the day and I started noticing the signs he would give when he was about to go.  We managed to go in the potty quite a few times that night and even got a little bit of number 2 as well. We used jelly beans and small books I had picked up as rewards for success.  Jelly beans are quite popular in our house!

Day two was amazing.  We went all morning without an accident until around noon.  Then we went the whole rest of the day.  I was feeling so encouraged!!  He still didn't "tell" us that he had to go verbally but was willing to sit on the potty when I noticed that he was giving signs.

Day three started out the same.  Only one accident before noon.  But that afternoon was horrible.  All kinds of accidents.  He would get up off the potty and then go pee on the floor in his room.  I was not feeling so encouraged.  I called a couple of friends and got advice and we pressed on.

Thursday was much better and by Friday we considered him potty trained for the most part.  Over the next few days we had a few number 2 accidents (I think because he didn't understand what the feeling meant) but after a few days those stopped as well.  We've learned that if he says he needs to go (he calls it all poop) that we need to go pretty quickly.  The times that he has had accidents have been when we haven't responded quickly enough.  It is also interesting teach a boy to "aim".  Right now we are currently still sitting on the potty and are using a potty seat that is built into the adult seat.  It is great!

We still use Huggies Nighttime diapers at night.  We call them his "nighttime underwear".  He occasionally wakes up dry but we've decided not to push it.  A lot of the methods recommend doing everything at once so they don't get confused but so far it hasn't seemed to effect his ability to differentiate when it is appropriate.  And often he gets out of bed and asks to go when wearing his "nighttime underwear".

We are still practicing getting our pants and underwear up and down.  I can definitely see how waiting for good warm weather would be beneficial but let's face it, here in Tacoma we might wait for the rest of our lives!  Ha ha!

My favorite moment was about a week after we started.  I had gone to a new Bible Study and didn't know a lot of people.  I told him over and over that if he needed to go he should tell his teacher or come tell me.  So right in the middle of prayer request time he comes running into the room and announces decidedly, "Have to go poop!!!!"  It was awesome!

We've learned that sometimes we have to encourage him to go even when he doesn't want to take them time to stop what he is doing.  We always go as soon as we get up.  Once during the morning and then before naptime.  Then after naptime, before dinner and before bath.  He will tell us now if he needs to go in between those times.  When we are going somewhere we go before we leave the house, when we arrive (if it is a longer drive) and then before we get in the car to go home.

So far we are very pleased with the Little Guy's cooperation and success on the potty!!