potty boot camp

****warning!!!!!! very long post about pee and poop!!!!!!!****

potty training, take TWO! if you will remember back in september, i reluctantly attempted to potty train ethan. welllll that didn't last long. with our family's crazy schedule this year, i didn't feel like i could be as consistent as i wanted to with this great task! plus i was just not ready for pee on the carpet. so brian and i agreed that we would re-address the issue this summer when our lives were "back to normal". plus this gave me time to get up the nerve to ditch the diapers and go straight to underwear, as everyone has advised. so that was our plan.

in the last few months, ethan's sensitive skin has developed a rash along the elastic lines of his diaper, despite switching diaper brands. if he was younger and not near the point of potty training, we may have looked into cloth diapers (which i was wanting to do w/ him from the beginning until i chickened out) or some kind of natural disposables (i think target has organic ones??). but potty training seemed like the most obvious solution to this rash. so we prepared to start on monday, march 3.

i placed a clear jar of m&ms on the counter the friday before so that he could get pumped up about getting m&ms for going pee-pee in the potty. we talked about it every time we passed that colorful jar of chocolate wonder. every time i changed his diaper, we talked about it. when he followed me into the bathroom, we talked about it. (kinda like the deut. 6 of potty training, huh?) i made certain that he knew what we expected of him, and there was no turning back now.

i also made a GIGANTIC potty racetrack chart at a girls' craft night the weekend before potty boot camp. yes, i was surrounded by four dear friends who were all designing beautiful handmade cards, and i was making a potty chart. :) but it had to get done! later, i added a few pictures of ethan's favorite cars, and we were ready to "rock and go" as ethan says. i designed the chart to be a long road with stops along the way. each "stop" at towmater or sally or whoever earns ethan a "surprise" (translate: 88 cent football, etc.).


so monday morning came, and he woke up with a full diaper as usual. we went straight to the potty and he didn't need to go. ok, i thought, he probably just went in his diaper. so we put on his big boy underwear, i set the timer for 10 minutes, and he went to the living room to play. i went to the kitchen to do something, and no more than 2 minutes later, i hear a sound likened unto a pitcher of water being poured in my living room. it took me a minute to realize that it was pee! i ran into the living room to see a VERY shocked ethan standing with his legs spread wide peeing a very huge puddle of pee. welcome to potty training, mommy!!!!!!!!!!! (i was very glad that i'd rolled up my new area rug the night before!)

that was two minutes into the day. it was gonna be a long day. and it was. the first day was really hard. but 35 trips to the potty, 3 accidents all over the floor, and nine pairs of underwear later, we survived. the hardest part was my sweet, curious, bath-loving daughter that thought an open door to the bathroom was a signal that it was bathtime. plus she was just wondering what in the world was going on! so she spent several moments in her crib playing while ethan sat on the potty and i was cleaning up the carpet. in hindsight, i wish i would have taken her to someone's house for the morning. that would have made a world of difference, i think.

the logistics of the day went great. i started off at setting the timer for 10 minutes. that seems really short, but i knew it would take a little while to get in the routine of actually being able to pee on the potty, and i wanted to have more chances than not to catch him in a moment when he had to go. so every ten minutes, he had to sit on the potty. he didn't have to sit long, but long enough to try to go. just a minute or two. if he sat on the potty, he got a sticker. if he peed, he got 1 m&m. if he pooped, he got FIVE m&ms & FIVE stickers! the most effective part of this experience, i think, has been instilling the concept of being dry. every few minutes, i would ask him if he was dry (which meant staying very close to him and not getting much done last week). and if he was dry when the timer went off, he got an m&m before heading to the potty. this was huge motivation for him, and he really wanted to be dry for those m&ms! after the first day of 9 pairs of underwear, we went to 3 pairs the next day, and then only ONE PAIR each for the next few days! i was pretty proud of how quickly he got the hang of it! once he started showing that he was consistently dry after 10 minutes, and he wouldn't have to go everytime, we stretched the time to 15 minutes, and then 20... and so on. now, 10 days later, the timer is set for 35-45 minutes. and he is usually dry. and he goes every time. we haven't had another big accident on the floor since the second day. yay!!!! ethan will often tell me that he needs to go. he has figured out that this gets me out of bed in the morning or away from whatever i am doing. :) but hey, when a 2 year old tells you that he's gotta go, you've gotta believe him! !! now, going poo-poo still needs some refining, but i expected that. he went voluntarily one time last thursday, and i made a HUGE DEAL out of it. he called several people to tell them the good news (see picture to the right.) we are still working on getting to the bathroom in time to avoid messy pants, but he is at least telling me when it is happening. (too much info?? sorry!!!!) it's still much easier (and cheaper!) than changing diapers. i now only change 3 or 4 diapers a day! what a life! :) ha!

i will say that i did not go cold turkey w/ diapers at naptime and nighttime or for outings. (i know, sylvia, you told me too, but i just chickened out!) he has a totally dry diaper after a 3 hour nap or after we have been to the store or on a walk or something like that. he can really hold it. and he has gotten into the routine of going potty every night before bed (stalling tactic, i think, but hey, i'll take it!). he still has a pretty wet diaper in the morning, but that is one diaper a day vs. 4 or 5. so i calculated that one box of diapers from sam's will last us FIVE MONTHS vs. one month. wooohoooo! that is a huge reward for this potty trained momma!!!!

another huge blessing with this daunting task of potty training is that brian was home with the kids last tues & wed. morning. so after being worn-out for the first day of potty boot camp, i was able to take a little breather and give daddy the whistle. monday night, we sat on the couch, and we went over all the logistics. i think brian was honestly a little apprehensive about it all, but he did wonderfully with him. he was able to bring up some ideas i hadn't thought of, and i was so happy to share the task with daddy! then i took back over in the afternoons, as well as thurs & friday, and then i went out of town friday night for a ladies' church retreat (more on that later hopefully). so brian and i really were able to share the burden of potty training. that was a blessing i had not thought of but truly appreciated after the fact! :)

this has been really long winded. sorry. but after putting 80+ stickers on a potty chart, this momma's gotta share! i also know there are several of you that read my blog who have little boys not far behind ethan, and you would love to know my take on potty training. so here ya go! i feel like the way we did it really worked for ethan, but that by no means makes me an expert. (insert me laughing very loudly at myself!) i can't tell you how many mothers i quizzed for advice prior to monday, march 3. that is what we are all here for! so please learn from my mistakes. learn from what worked for us, learn from what didn't, and learn that you are gonna get pee on your carpet!

i will leave you with our potty training funnies...

-my mom and i keep referring to ethan's underwear as "pants" (hope, we could fit right in in scotland!)... and every time, ethan gets all flustered and says, "no no no mommy (or gram)! don't call them pants! call them underwear!" it just makes me laugh.

-ethan knows he gets 5 m&ms for going poo-poo in the potty, so almost evvvvvvvvvery time he has peed, he tries to strike a deal... he looks at me while he's sitting on the potty and says, in his most convincing voice, "fiiiiiiive m-a-m's???????". nope. sorry kid.

-so the time he actually made it to the potty and went poo-poo was huge. that was the 4th time in a period of 20 minutes that he ran to me to tell me that he had to go. the first time, he went and sat, and it was "just gas". the second time was nothing, the third time was pee, and the fourth time was the big kahuna. so after he finished, i let him look at his hard work in the potty. :) i made a big deal about it, and i exclaimed, "look at alllll the poo poo in the potty!" to which he exclaimed in reply, "AND GAS!"

well i think that's enough potty talk... now go wash your hands and get an m&m!