We have been working on potty training for quite a while. After all, it is a continuous process. Introducing the potty early is key, at least it has been for my boys. My sister said she used to sit her little guy on the potty every time she would go, but she never took his pants down so he freaked out the first time she tried to do that. I learned from that and always sat them down bare bottomed. As it's been getting closer and closer to potty training time Peter has been spending a lot of time bare bottomed. This of course freaks some people out, but hey, it works. Even with the feeling of fabric against his skin he would freely pee. With nothing on he would catch himself more often than not.
He has been dry through the night for quite a while. Don't ask me how, both my boys did this for me. I take that as a really good sign of control and finally took the hint and plunged in a little deeper. He started wearing big boy underwear for the most part at home. I had these little boxer briefs that no longer fit Lachlan and were truthfully a little tight on Peter, but if he had an accident (#2) it would stay contained, so that's nice. It also looked like he was wearing shorts and a little less underwear like, another positive.
Yes, we have had a lot of accidents, but that's part of the game. I have a stack of rags and lots of cleaners. Every time he "misses" I still have him go sit on the potty. Now here is where the failure part comes in on my part, reacting poorly. I would say 9 times out of 10 I reacted calmly to messes. But sadly could not control my frustration a few times especially those times in which I had him standing in front of the potty minutes before because I knew he had to go but he refused.
Some of the fun parts . . . the big boy underwear dance. It really just came out of no where but we do it all the time. At first I was kind of ashamed of this video because well I am singing a make up song. But seriously it is so cute I have to share.
WARNING! The song is kind of catchy! It might get stuck in your head. Peter has of course taught his dance moves to his friends. We have a whole Big Boy Underwear dance troop going on.
Also, our time together in the bathroom - sounds strange, I know. Peter has mastered pooping on the potty. Sort of backwards that he's got that one down first. When he was first starting to try to poo I would give him instructions, like push and lean forward, put your feet on the ground. That sort of thing. All good advice but also a good way to keep the goal (pooping on the potty) in conversation while also keeping his little hiney on the potty long enough. Now though, he gives me advice, so sweet. He really likes company when he is in there doing #2 because like most men, it takes a while. So I sit on the tubs edge as he sits on the big potty (another wonderful step in the right direction) and explains to me how to go about pooping. Lean forward he says, then you have to look up (he added that one) and push. Every little bit of progress he makes he asks "did you hear that?" It is quite the little routine we have going, and I am sorry that I want to remember it, but I do. It is precious to me, even if we are talking about poop. When it's getting close to the end I ask him if he has any more left. "Yep" he says shortly with his lips out a bit making a bit of a face. "I still have more poop in my butt," he says. Okay, a few more minutes go by and the same question is asked until finally he answers "no more poop." Yay, it's finally time to get off the potty. Even though he is cute, I still don't like hanging out in the bathroom that long.
We did implement the reward system. I have heard lots of people and books say it's not a good idea because it isn't connected to the action, or they should just go because they want to. Well, what ever, for me it is the key to negotiating a trip to the bathroom. I can say, that often, after the deed is done, they are so proud about their accomplishment that they forget about the reward. I say they because we did this for both boys and both boys would often forget. Lachlan was trained at 2 and a half and now Peter at 2 and a half too. He has worn big boy underwear to bed the last 2 nights successfully. He wore big boy underwear out and about on our outings this past weekend successfully. He still had an accident yesterday, but I don't wait until they never have an accident ever to call them trained. His successes far out way his misses. So we are trained in my book. Sure things will go back and forth a bit but I am so proud of him.
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