Potty Training! Oh, how I have dreaded potty training. I don't really know why, but I have. I have put it off and put it off and then finally I decided I needed to face my fears! I know this shouldn't be about me, it is about Ben but for whatever reason, I had a mental block to potty training. Then my friend Kara, recommended 3 Day Potty Training by Lora Jensen. Ben starts preschool two days a week on Monday and I just really started feeling convicted about not facing this fear. So, I bought the book and it was a HUGE blessing to this mommy. It is a super simple book and Lora's confidence in potty training is contagious. It was so great to read this book and all of a sudden have tools and a method to go about this dreaded task.
So, the days were picked for our 3 day boot camp of potty training. The D's left early Sunday morning so that gave me two days with Allen at home and the third day I would be on my own with the Ben and Nate.
Saturday we went into town and I bought all the supplies we would need. Toilet seat, snacks, lots of drinks, mulitple pairs of underwear, and special treats for those pivotal moments! Ben has been super excited about preschool so about a week befor,e I started tell Ben that he was going to stop wearing diapers and only wear underwear so that he could be ready for school. (We had done no potty training up until this point. Some friends has given us a kids potty and we have had it in one of our bathrooms for about 3 weeks. Occassionally he would show interest in it but in the last couple of days before starting potty training he was wanting to try it out.
Sunday, Allen took the D's to the airport and I got up and got ready for the day ahead. Lora gives you step by step instructions on what to do. We had breakfast and after breakfast when we went to get dressed I took a bag and put all of "Ben's" diapers in a bag for him to give to Nate. I put him in underwear and a shirt and told him that big boys keep their underwear dry. From that point on, I continually told him to "Tell mommy if you need to go potty." We came back down stairs, I showed him the potty and continually praised him for having dry underwear. Then we got to hydrating. I offered him all sorts of special drinks, gingerale, juice boxes, chocolate milk, and we sat around playing and drinking. While I continually did spot checks for dryness and praised him for staying dry, then I would follow it with "Tell mommy if you need to go potty". That morning he had two accidents and each time I rushed him to the potty, put him on it. Then I would say, ok we are going to change you into dry underwear and lets keep our underwear dry. The third time we had to go to the bathroom he said those great words "Mommy peepee's coming!" and we rushed to the potty. YEAH! He went and LOTS of praised followed. Allen and Nate were told we all did the happy dance and he got a treat. At this point I should say, I should have kept my treats small from the start, but I was so excited! And Ben knew that I had given him a bunch of candy and from then on that was the expectation. (Note to self, for Nate start small).
That day, he went down for his nap and did wake up from it wet. However, while he was awake he never wet himself again. That night, we put him down for bed and he went all the way till 6:30 and then woke and wet the bed, which has been the case ever since. We are going to wake him and put him on the potty before we go to bed tonight and see if that helps. He goes to bed at 7:30 and usually wakes up about 7, which I think is a long time to hold it. The great thing about this book is that I have support and can send questions to the author who has potty trainied a ton of people! Nothing like getting help from a pro.
So, anyways, day two was great. However, he did mess in his diaper twice with bowel movements. the first time I caught him and the second was at nap time. He did stay dry all day and through nap time.
Day 3, I was hot on his trail to catch the bowel movement. I encouraged him that if he put the stinky in the potty he would get ice cream with chocolate syrup. And of course, day 3 we had no activity on that front.
So, day 4, he was supposed to be potty trained...so we went out. We went to the YMCA and the boys were in the creche there. I reminded him to tell his teachers if he needed to go potty and that if he was dry when I came back he would get a treat. Of course, I was nervous through my whole work out because he had not been successful yet with the stinky and who wants to clean up someone else's poop out of underwear?! However, noone came to get me and he was dry when I went to collect the boys!! YEAH for some confidence building. I praised him and told him what a big boy he was. We came home had naps and then headed out to another play date at a fun play room here. It was crazy, lots of kids, kids running everywhere. I told him to let me know if he had to go potty and to come get me. Throughout the time, I would go over and whisper in his ear and praise him for being dry and remind him. At some point, his friend, who is a year older than him peed in his pants and his mom had to change him. I was super nervous for my little guy and really wanted him to succeed and he did!! Towards then, he came and told me that great little phrase of his "Peepee's coming!" we went off to the bathroom and it was a success!
I know I am boring you all, if you have even lasted this long.
But today, my little guy had ice cream for breakfast because he told me "Poopy's coming" and he was successful!
I am sure we will have our ups and downs on this road ahead but I am super proud of Ben and I can't imagine this going any easier. This sounds crazy but it makes me excited about potty training Nate in the next 6 months. The author of this books says she has potty trainined all her boys and others at 22 months. We will see...
Thanks for letting me share WAY too much information!!
The big boy being silly!
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