Scribble and Scrabble

As the title suggests, this one’s about potty training. Read on at your own risk ;-) Written more for a record of this week than anything else. Honestly, after the longest week ever, I’m fully convinced it wasn’t anything I did…it was just him deciding “Oh, I want to do this now.”

A few months before Ben turned two he really seemed interested in the potty, bathroom and all that it entailed. So I started asking if he’d like to sit on his little potty. We read books, sang songs, he peed a few times but didn’t really seem committed to it. When he started screaming “No no no” and running away after I asked if he’d like to sit, I just abandoned the idea for a while. No biggie, whatever, he wasn’t even two.

Fast forward, he’s now 2yrs 3mo and started to seem interested again. He’d tell us when he pooped and ask for a diaper change. We’ve always said “bye bye poop” as I drop it into the toilet from his cloth diaper (ok, yes kind of gross, but I never actually touch the poop). He’s known about the whole process for a while and I just figured “eh, why not try again?” Monday morning I decided to go for it, all or nothing.

That morning I told him we were using underwear now instead of diapers and that he needed to keep his undies dry. He said “ok” although it’s doubtful he knew what I meant. Monday was awful. We had 6 accidents and no catches. Luckily we have hardwood and tile in most of the upstairs, although he did get some on the carpet (no harm though). He was really upset when it first started streaming down his legs and looked at me like I’d betrayed him. I moved him to the potty I’d set up in the living room (it was too late by then though). I calmly reminded him we use undies now and need to sit on the toilet to go potty. Oddly he LOVED helping me clean it up (strange child). Repeat throughout the day.

By the end of Monday though he’d squirt a little in his undies and then stop himself and look at me horrified. We’d try to finish on the potty but I think the sudden startled move over there freaked him out and nothing would happen. He’d end up saving it all for his diaper at bed time. It was still cool to see the process of totally drenching himself in the beginning (you know like he’s always done for 2 years when he’s had to go to the bathroom)…to realizing he had some control over this process.

Tuesday I put undies on him and started the day. I was honestly d.r.e.a.d.i.n.g it, Monday was so long I didn’t want to live through a repeat. I started the day by trying to have him sit on the potty every 30 minutes like I’d read a bunch of places online. I found that this method really didn’t work for us, he’d get very frustrated I was making him sit on the potty so much he started throwing tantrums and getting so worked up that he wouldn’t pee even though I knew he really needed to. Our morning was spent in this battle, nap time brought a slight respite. That afternoon I decided, you know what…he was starting to understand things yesterday maybe I should just leave him alone. So the new plan was to not nag (after all what man wants to be nagged every half hour, lol) and just let him learn by accidents. We did have a few accidents (which he was very unhappy about) but I found once I left him alone, he actually wandered over to the potty and peed by himself.

Wednesday progressed in much the same fashion, I left him naked and he headed over to the potty when he needed to pee. The only accidents this day were when he actually had undies on and sat down to pee without taking them off ;-) He figured out real quick he didn’t want to get his underwear wet because they weren’t diapers and would leak all over him. We even went to Target and ran a few quick errands and he stayed dry.

Thursday and Friday he did great, no accidents. He started to actually come to me and ask to go potty by whining and doing a little dance. Friday he started to say “Potty!” and run over to it when he needed to use it. Friday he did great at Y babysitting, stayed dry for a few hours.

Saturday we had a few issues with daddy being home ;-) Instead of simply using the potty or asking, he would throw a giant temper tantrum on the floor when he had to pee. I found that stripping him down naked worked because he really wanted his new undies back. I don’t know how many times I repeated “Undies back? Go potty.” Not sure why or even if Andy being home created the issue, but I suppose it was a little different than our weekly routine had been.

Sunday was so much easier! He was dry all morning for church and went as soon as we got home. Then he asked to go a few times during the day with no other issues!

Notes:

– We had nothing planned all week and were able to stay home through this. We did watch a lot of TV to get him to stay in the livingroom.

– We went out to Target for a short trip and then eventually worked up to babysitting at the Y. And then child care at church and some more errands. I was terrified to bring him out the first few times, but refused to go back to diapers as a safety. I just packed extra clothes and figured if we were to have an accident, I’d just deal with it.

– I noticed much better response when I switched from chocolate chips to M&Ms as a reward. He calls them “Eem Eems” and gets excited about the colors.

– I bought these undies for Ben. They have a slight bit of padding that absorb little leaks which is nice. Definitely not as absorbent as diapers, but they did the trick to catch small accidents and still let him know he’d wet.

Favorite memories of the week:

– The time he went potty by himself while I was downstairs doing laundry. I came back up to see he’d tried to empty the bowl into the big toilet but hadn’t opened the lid all the way and had dumped his pee all over the bathroom floor. Oops!

– When he tried to poop on the potty and kept farting instead. He looked up at me with a huge smile and said “I fahted.”

Obstacles we still need to over come:

– Pooping, lol. He’s sat down and tried, it just wasn’t ready yet. For now he’s just done it in his bed time diaper.

– Sitting on the big potty. It was just more convenient to start with the little one in the living room, but that’s kind of weird when you have guests over ;-) I have a little seat insert, so we’ll try it soon.

– Going outside the house. He’s really good at staying dry during the day, but won’t go potty on strange store toilets and just holds it until we get home. We’ve practiced sitting on new potties every time we’re out and he’s not afraid of them…just maybe doesn’t have to go or isn’t willing to at that point.

– Nap time/bed time dryness. Not really looking for this any time soon, I’m fine still using the diaper for the longer periods. We’ll get there eventually.

Andy’s mom made Ben a super cute pajama set. He calls them his “Thomas Jammies” and is obsessed with wearing them as often as I’ll let him. Our upstairs is really warm with the wood stove, so most of the time he just struts around in the bottoms.