Potty Training Diaries

I haven't written anything on my blog yet about our potty training adventures, and I know none of you want to hear about them either, but I'm going to write about them anyway for my own personal records. 

Our first attempt at potty training was back in October when Boston was 2 1/2. I was dreading it. I had a feeling he was going to be a tough one to potty train. I mentally geared myself up for about a month beforehand, read a few books, checked movies out from the library, and read stuff online. 

I decided to go with the "Potty Train Your Child in Just One Day" method. (The book is pictured above.) I had absolutely zero expectations of him actually becoming potty trained in "just one day," but I thought he would enjoy the party approach to it, and I hoped we would train him in a couple weeks using that approach. I bought a bunch of bribes, party snacks, drinks, fun Toy Story underwear, and a baby doll that we could train together. I also bought some Spiderman stickers and printed a couple Spiderman potty charts, and wrapped some prizes for him. I was so nervous for the "Potty Training Party." Boston is very strong willed, so I wasn't sure if I would have what it takes in terms of persuading powers and teaching abilities to handle his intense personality. Images of this might have also had something to do with my nervousness to potty train Boston as well. :) 

To my relief and great surprise, he LOVED the Potty Training Party, and he LOVED making me proud and happy and getting treats. He wasn't scared or nervous at all to use either the little potty or the big one. From what I had read, that was half the battle, especially with going #2, so I was feeling pretty lucky. 

He also loved watching "Elmo's Potty Time." He could watch that movie 10 times in a row if I let him, but I don't for my own sanity. I can only handle hearing songs about pee and poop for so long. 

Our first day of potty training was a great success with very little, if any, accidents. Don't worry, I didn't get off that easy. The story's not over yet. I thought I was going to get off easy. Silly me. Since when is Boston easy? 

He did pretty well for about a week or so with the potty training thing, but he's a smart kid and started using my potty training tactics to his advantage. Instead of going to the bathroom when he needed to go, he would only go to the bathroom when he wanted a treat. He would force a little something out and demand his prize. He would also only go little bits at a time so he could get more treats more often. 

He started getting really sick of me asking/reminding him to go to the bathroom, so I tried to back off. When I backed off, he would have accidents. One day we went to play at the park and I tried to get him to use the potty beforehand, but his strong-willed personality does not like being told what to do. He cried and said no, and got mad when I tried to put him on the toilet. I didn't want potty training to turn into a power struggle, so I backed off again. He peed his pants while playing about 5 minutes later. We changed him, and then he peed his pants again about 30 minutes later. That's when I knew I was in trouble and that I was not going to get off easy with the potty training thing. The hardest part was that he could care less that he peed his pants. He just kept playing like nothing happened. That's when I really knew I was in trouble. 

He lost all interest in bribes, sticker charts, chocolate, presents, or anything else we tried to get him to use the toilet. It was all just a fun game to him at first. He always loves new things, but they lose their novelty fast. How do you potty train a kid that doesn't care if they mess their pants, and that isn't the slightest bit persuaded by sticker charts or bribes? I realized you don't, so back to diapers it was. 

We've been trying to warm him up to the idea of getting rid of his diapers for quite awhile, but nothing we said piqued his interest. I was getting more and more sick of changing his diapers as the months went on. A few days ago I went to change his poopy diaper in the morning, and saw that our diapers were all gone. I decided that I didn't care how many accidents I had to clean up, I was not buying him more diapers. 

We are currently on day 4 of round 2 of potty training. The first day was horrible. I think he peed his pants all but one time. He had never pooped his pants before, and I wasn't sure if he would dare, but I found out that day that he did dare. Not only did he dare, but he didn't even care! We were outside at the bottom of our stairs playing with sticks and rocks, one of Boston's favorite things to do, and I could tell he had messed up his pants pretty bad by the smell. (By the way, I brought the little potty to the bottom of the stairs with us. It was two feet away from Boston the entire time.) I decided not to say anything about his accident since we were outside, and just see if it would bother him at all, or if he would tell me. Nope. Not one mention or indication that he was slightly bothered. Not even when we came inside. I knew all these accidents the first day were a big reality check for Boston that his diapers were really, truly gone. I knew this is how it would have to be for awhile. 

The second morning, I woke him up an hour earlier than he normally wakes up because I was afraid he would wake up and go to the bathroom in his pull-up before I got there. To my surprise, his pull-up was actually dry. His diaper is almost always really wet and poopy when I get him in the morning. I thought he went during the night, but now I know he goes right when he wakes up. I tried to get him to use the potty, but he didn't want to, so I decided to wait and see if he would tell me he had to go. As he was watching one of his potty training videos, he came in the kitchen where I was making breakfast and slipped in his big puddle. I walked him to the bathroom and put him on the toilet. He started crying and said, "Change my diaper!" He misses the ease of going wherever and whenever he wants, and then the game of watching me try to get him to cooperate long enough so I can change his diaper. I don't miss that, even if I have to clean up messes for a week, or maybe two or three. Lets hope it's only a week though. This kid will be potty trained by the time he's three. I'm determined. That means he's got 2 weeks to get it down.  

Day 3 went a little better than day 2. I think the reality of the fact that his diapers were truly gone was starting to set in. 

Today is day 4 and it's going much better. No accidents (so far), and one huge success story to end this post on a good note. Scott put him down for his nap and a few minutes later I heard light knocking on his door. He does this a lot when he doesn't want to nap. He'll just knock on the door over and over until we open it, so I was ignoring it for awhile. After about 5 or 10 minutes of listening to that tiny little knock, I opened his door so I could tell him to go to sleep. That's when I became one proud mama. He was standing there holding his little potty that we put in his room just in case he needed to go, and he actually used it! All by himself, with no prompting from me. It wasn't just #1 either. I told him how happy and proud I was of him and rewarded him. Finally, some promising progress, although I know we are far from done with this potty training torture adventure. It was just nice to have a success after cleaning up almost every single bathroom break of his the last few days.