Weeks leading up to the 9th I read books and blogs and tried to get an understanding of what to do or try. I went shopping and bought a toilet seat, some super awesome big boy underwear, I made a potty train chart, bought some prizes, searched youtube for "potty songs" and downloaded potty apps. I wanted to be as prepared as I could be before we started. I talked to daycare and they were all in. They suggested I begin on a Friday afternoon when we got home from school and work all weekend and then they would continue through the week(s) for us. So Thursday night came and I packed away all of his diapers, just leaving 1 for school on Friday. As soon as we got home from school on Friday we took off his last diaper and put on his big boy underwear and no pants. He was super excited as they were Thomas (Thomas the Train). Most ask why we went straight to underwear, but I feel like pull ups defeat the purpose of potty training. I'm not against them or anyone that uses them to potty train I just felt that through all my research going straight to underwear would be the best option for us. After we put his underwear on we set a timer for 20 minutes, b/c daycare said they would take him to the potty every 20 minutes and I wanted to be as in sync with daycare as I could, especially since he spends most of the week with them. When the timer went off we would say potty time and we would either race or march to the bathroom, whichever he wanted to do. We tried to make it a game as we were going so often. He did really well or what I thought was well, we only had 3 messes and 3 successes the first night, 50/50 I'll take it. Saturday came and I had planned the day so I had nothing to do other than focus on Zeke and going to the bathroom. It was a very long day, but I could see the light bulb going off, well kind of. The timer would go off and he would yell "potty time" and we would head to the bathroom. Day 2 came and gone and we only had 3 messes and 11 successes! It was so fun to watch him because after he would potty he would yell "yay I did it!" Then he would want to flush and get a sticker, the best parts of going potty! Sunday came and again we had no plans other than to focus on Zeke, Kyle and I were going to mass at different times so we wouldn't have to take Zeke and walk out 3 times, or as I told Kyle I didn't want to set Zeke up to have a mess. Sunday started great he had no accidents all the way until nap. We put him down for nap and as I was trying to get out the door to teach spin Zeke started throwing up. He threw up every 20 minutes for about 4 hours, but even in the midst of throwing up he never had an accident. I was at spin for a hour and Kyle said Zeke would get sick and then he would put him on the toilet and he would go potty. I was so proud of him, but then after talking to our nurse practitioner we gave Zeke gatorade and that made him potty every 5 minutes, no joke. So we ended up having 3 messes that afternoon. Because Zeke was sick on Sunday we kept him home on Monday and then he ran fever on Monday so we kept him home on Tuesday and we had zero accidents on both days. I sent him to school on Wed, where he had zero accidents and then after not eating for 4 days I decided to take him to the doctor Thurs. morning and he had strep. :( Not fun at all, but even being sick he did so well at going potty like a big boy. Waynette kept him Friday-Sunday and he had a total of 2 or 3 accidents all weekend.
I'm really proud of him and he is doing so well, but it can definitely be frustrating. Does he tell us he needs to go potty no, but he will go as soon as we put him on the toilet and he loves to sit on the toilet. So it has taught Kyle and I to be persistent in taking him to the bathroom; however, he is getting better that when we ask if he needs to go potty he will simply reply "no" or he will head to the bathroom. We've only had to "force" him into the bathroom a handful of times. My mom asked me if it is what I thought it was going to be, but truly I didn't know what to expect. It is very hard and I can see that if a child isn't ready it could make things a million times harder, but so far we've been lucky. We haven't even began to think about night time training, but he is still in his crib so he can't even get up to go potty at night if he needed to so he wears a pull up or what we call "night time undies" to bed and at daycare they put him in a pull up for nap time. I'm hoping when he turns 2, about 5 weeks away, we will be able to let him nap in underwear. I'm very proud of how well he has done, but I'm ready for the day when he will tell me he needs to go potty. But one day, one day we will get there.
I must admit, I hate how fast he is growing up, but it's seriously the cutest thing to see him running around in his big boy underwear! He only ran around in just underwear the first weekend and first part of the first week, when he was home and sick. He just prefers to wear pants.
Here is the chart I made. Some people use food/candy/etc for going potty, but I opted for stickers; however, he does get gummy bears at school. So every time he went/goes potty he got/gets a sticker to put on the track and when he reached a color square he got a prize and they ranged from a dinosaur, to a hot wheel, new bath toys etc. nothing big or expensive (all from dollar store), but something new and exciting to congratulate him on a job well done. When he made it to the end I had planned on having a "big" prize for him, but he reached the end and I didn't have anything oops, but he didn't even know. He still gets/asks for a sticker every time he goes and now he just places it anywhere on the paper.
Here's to milestones and making memories!
Kyle + Mary + Zeke + Kato & Bear-Bear
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