Potty Training - Small Successes!

You know, if there is ONE thing that I think probably makes ALL moms out there dread in parenting it's probably potty-training. With my oldest, Aimee I was ready to take it on by the horns and we did fairly well for the first 2 weeks. Then. . . we moved. To camp. For ministry. Where we didn't have access to a washer or a dryer except once a week. Let me tell you, that whole concept went OUT the window! By that point I totally dreaded trying it all over because Aimee really did not want to do it. I couldn't motivate her with anything! So I waited and put it off and then finally when she turned three - it was time. We tackled it hard core for a month. And then we tackled BMs for another 2 months. It was NOT a pleasant experience. But now after 6 months, she is doing fantastically and never even wets the bed. Triumph!

But guess what, my daughter and my son are 16 months apart. He's 27 months now and he has been showing all of the signs of being ready to potty train. He's been showing the signs for about 3 months now actually. He is dry in the morning after getting up, he has gone potty on the big potty a few times, even #2 a couple of times when I caught him at it. But once again, I put it off. I mean I just finished the whole process with Aimee! Did I really want to start this ALL over again??

To be honest, the only motivation I had was the fast approaching due date of our little one expected in April. The idea of having 2 kids in diapers AGAIN was not very appealing. So here we go for the plunge! Oh wait, we should wait til after Thanksgiving because we're visiting my in-laws. And oh wait, we should wait til after Christmas because of the busyness and traveling we'll be doing. Oh wait, let's wait til I get school with Aimee going again. (I don't really know why that excuse was in there but it was!) So here we are today and I woke up and remembered, TODAY is the day to potty train my son. I almost talked myself out of it. But I plunged in and went thru these first steps with my son.

1. I got all pumped up and EXCITED (at least on the outside!) and told Cody he was DONE with diapers!!!! He is a BIG BOY now! He gets to go potty in the BIG potty! (We don't use the potty chair - it's too confusing, and he doesn't have a fear of falling in so we're good that way!)

2. Then I showed Cody his special drawer of Big Boy Underwear! They are sooooo cool! They have balls and trucks on them! WOW!!!

3. Then I show him the CANDY jar! If he goes potty in the potty, he gets a candy!!!! MMMMMM!

4. Then he sits on the potty after making a HUGE deal of taking OFF his diaper. Lo and behold HE GOES!!

An obviously PROUD Cody! 

5. HUGE PARTY time!!! We dance and sing a made up at the spur of the moment "Cody went potty in the potty song!" Then Cody RUNS to go tell DADDY! Daddy throws ANOTHER little party because Cody went potty in the potty!

6. Cody gets a piece of candy!

7. Then I set the timer for 20 minutes. This is basically for my forgetfulness, but when the timer goes off, it's telling Cody it's time to go potty and not mommy telling him so a little victory there! My mom told me that boys are different then girls and they can pretty much go potty on demand so go OFTEN! Every 20 minutes Cody went potty. Another trick my mom told me was to tell him to "see if there's any more!" It still only counts as going one time, but you'd be amazed how many times I will say that in one sitting and he can still go more! Once again, a boy thing. After a morning of NO accidents and following a 20 minute schedule, we're now setting the timer for 30 minutes.

8. We're going to keep this up until nap time when he will go right before bed and then we're going to put a diaper cover on for naptime! A bloggy friend made these for me and she also tells how she made them on her blog here. You can also buy the diaper covers but they're a little pricy. The Large size fit Cody just right over his Big Boy Underwear and will protect his bed from messes while he sleeps. The advantage of doing this will be that he will feel the wetness and know that it's not what should happen. BUT no pile of laundry from his bed! YAY!

That's what I've done so far. Obviously this is going EXTREMELY well! But whether he was going in the potty or not, I would have still stuck to the same concepts until he gets it right! I'll keep you posted on our progress!