Potty Training

How can I forget to blog about one of the most important accomplishment in a toddler's life? Bad Mommy (as my son would say). I'm happy to announce that our first born is 100% potty trained during his waking hours. Night time is another challenge that I will tackle at another time although he's been dry through out the night since he started potty training, and only have had one overnight accident so far.

I have to say potty training is not just about training your child to use the bathroom, but training us parents to be diligent and to get on some type of routine. You can't just get up and leave and not worry about when the last time your tot used the restroom, or not have a pit stop weaved into your schedule when you're on the go. In the beginning phase I've learned that you have to be diligent in reminding your child to use the potty, watchin for cues, and never keeping your eyes off of him during the training phase. Kind of like training a new pup.

I started his potty training on a Monday, and since my boy is such a creature of habit and resistant to new things, it was a very tough beginning. At one point he was sitting on his little potty crying and screaming "I can't go potty" and "NO POTTY!" for about an hour before he finally made his first tinkle in the potty. I'm sure I broke every rule in potty training, but I just knew if I let him win we would never get over that hump with him. Sure enough I was right. After that first real tinkle into the potty he was open to using the potty instead of going in his diaper. At first I put him in cloth training underwear but he kept having accidents in then, so instead (as many people have suggested) I kept him bottomless. He was only allowed to sit on towels for the first 4 days. With a lot of high 5's, encouragement, and praises he learned to go pee in the potty and he was allowed to start wearing underwear during the day. He also transitioned himself from the portable potty to sitting on the toilet, but I realized he still wasn't going #2 in the toilet. With a quick trip to Toys R Us, I incorporated rewards into his training. I bought his favorite toy (hotwheels)  and left it in the bathroom for him to see and told him that he could have 1 car every time he went poo-poo into the toilet. By the next day he finally did the deed.

Overall he did fantastic. By the end of week 1 he was using the potty probably 70% of the time, and by the end of week 2 he was 98% trained. Outside the house it was a hit or miss, but after a few accidents I think he finally gets that he needs to let us know that he needs to go. We also need to remind ourselves to make a pit stop every couple of hours when we're on the go, so we can't completely fault him for having an accident when we're traveling.

Last week was a good test since we had a 2 hour event to go to with a 2 hour car ride. After about 1 1/2 hour into the drive our son told us he needed to go potty, and was able to hold it until we could get to the nearest fast food restaurant. Then I took him to the restroom again when we arrived at our destination, and then he told us he needed to go towards the end of the event. No accidents! Yippee. I think it's safe to say he's potty trained, but we'll always bring extra underwear and pants, just in case for those uh-oh moments.

Great job Maddie! We're so proud of you.

Almost forgot to mention that Daddy showed him how to pee standing up and making pee bubbles. =)