Potty training: PART 2

Well I suppose I should update the potty training experience since when I left off I was just getting started on what I was sure was going to be a disastrous experiment. Based on Noah's not-so-thrilled response to my proposal to start potty training that particular morning a few weeks ago, I would have bet good money that we were going to abandon this project before the end of 48 hours. To make a long story short, in the end the M&M's won out and all it took was one m&m for him to realize this was a pretty good deal. He has had very little candy in his life so to him one precious M&M is a very fine treat. So even though I had to bribe him with candy just to take off his diaper and put on the oh-so-scary (to him apparently) big boy underwear, he actually did pretty well. I told him we were done with diapers, showed him the potty, put on the training pants and gave him a piece of candy. He seemed clueless and I knew he had no idea what I meant by any of this. All it took was 2 accidents (to be expected) and the light bulb in his head went off and he finally knew what it was I was asking him to do. After 2-3 days of staying at home and doing NOTHING but running to the potty every 30 minutes, lots of praise and rewards and an occasional minor mess...we had made MAJOR progress. I was stunned at how well he was doing. He was even telling me when he had to go and I couldn't have been more proud of him. At first the potty stayed out in the playroom so we had quick access to it and he wasn't afraid to use it since he could still watch TV and be distracted by his toys (see picture below!) and then I gradually moved it into the bathroom...and then we gradually transitioned him onto the big potty. The last thing I wanted was a kid who would only use a little potty chair and then find myself at the grocery store and him not be willing to use the regular bathroom. I didn't want to be one of those moms who had to carry an potty chair in the trunk of my car (not that I wouldn't if I had to).

So even though Noah took to potty training like a champ and surprised us all....I was quick to realize that this new endeavor we had embarked on was about 100x harder than diapers. Because diapers are sooooo absorbent these days, I only had to change Noah 4-5 times a day. He is still of course wearing a diaper at night and usually at nap time just to be safe so in reality even with Noah being potty trained, I was only "giving up" the hassle of 3-4 diapers max per day. Those 3-4 diapers (which took an average of 90 seconds to change) have been replaced with NOT 3-4 trips to the potty....but 10-12 trips to the potty! I really just was stunned to learn that little boys can and will tinkle up to 3 times per hour...every hour. So instead of having to simply change a diaper which is a 1-step process..I now find myself with this process for every potty time:

1. "Noah do you have to go potty?" I ask, to which he promptly and adamantly says "NO MOMMY!" I then have to stop what i'm doing and follow him around the house because of course I don't believe him (he is holding himself and dancing). About 30 seconds later he finally says (like it was his idea) "Mommy, I have to go potty , NOW!"

2. We RUN to the potty and of course 9 times out of 10 we are running so fast he trips and falls and hurts himself and cries so i have to stop and kiss his boo-boo and comfort him.

3. In the potty now, I have to rush to get his pants down for him otherwise he will sit down with is pants still up and pee in his pants while sitting on the potty. He hasn't quite mastered that concept. So, pants are down and he finally sits down and then promptly demands one of his "lovies" (blankie) for comfort since this process is still scary to him so off I go to find that for him

4. He finally uses the potty and before i can finish pulling his pants back up he is so proud of himself he wants to dump it in the big toilet himself so he grabs the potty chair and runs to dump it, spilling half of it of course on him and the floor.

5. We flush and wave "bye bye" to the pee-pee and while he is demanding his reward candy, I am washing my hands, washing his hands, mopping the floor and cleaning up all of the little boy tinkle he has managed to get everywhere.

6. We leave the bathroom, he gets a "high-five" and some candy and by this time I have already forgotten what it was I was doing before he had to go potty 10 minutes ago. Not to worry, the process starts all over again in 10-15 minutes.

Sooooooo I'm not sure who it was that ever said potty training was easier than diapers but they must have been delusional. Diapers are wonderful, easy, quick, mess-free and the best thing ever invented....and I am in control. Potty training is time consuming, messy, unpredictable and nerve-wracking...and HE is in control! AACK!!!! And it has been quite the adjustment for me to be out and about--shopping, driving, eating at a restaurant...and having to stop what I am doing and rush him to the bathroom multiple times. I'm not used to that...those situations are certainly where diapers are easier, BUT....he certainly can't go to school wearing diapers so i'm very relieved we started this when we did and he is well on his way to being 100% independent in this important aspect of his life.

I could not be more proud of him and I am so relieved this was so relatively easy for us and that it is behind us. I know it will only get better from here. He is already trying to "hold it" for a little longer so he isn't going 3x an hour (well at least not every hour) and he is even staying dry after most naps and occasionally at night. AND he has finally quit asking for candy every time he goes potty!

The Easter Bunny came!

We had a low key but very fun Easter this year. After a week of awful (and crazy)weather (snow flurries, freezing temperatures, rain, tornado threats and thunder storms....God provided us with a picture perfect Easter Sunday. Noah really isn't sure what to make of all the festivities yet....getting soooooo extra dressed up for church, a large Bunny walking around taking pictures with him, eggs everywhere, baskets, etc.....but he has (thanks to potty training bribes) developed a rather strong liking to CANDY so that part he "got". :)

Grandma Pat came for a short visit and Noah enjoyed playing with her. Because our neighborhood had the egg hunt LAST weekend, our Easter Sunday was wide open so after attending a beautiful church service at North River Church of Christ, we headed out to dinner at a local restaurant and the 3 of us enjoyed the rest of our Easter Sunday. Even though in our religion we do celebrate Christ's death and resurrection every single Sunday, but an Easter Sunday service is always so moving and important as we humbly attempt to truly grasp the depth of that sacrifice that was made and celebrate the resurrection with a little extra emphasis. In future years we hope to teach Noah the significance of Easter so he grows up knowing it isn't just about bunnies, candy, baskets and egg hunts.

Luke 24:46-47
And Jesus said to them, “Thus it is written, that the Christ should suffer and on the third day rise from the dead, and that repentance and forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem.

We have entered the Potty Training Zone....Part 1

So I caved in and listened to peer pressure and have been attempting the whole potty training experiment with Noah this week. I figured Spring Break was as good a time as any since there would be no preschool or bible study daycare distractions during the week. Plus this week coincides with him officially turning 2.5 which is supposedly the magical age (according to my personal panel of "expert" moms I regularly consult!) to potty train a boy. If you do it much earlier (I hear) they regress. If you do it much later (I hear) they don't care about pleasing you and really don't listen to your instructions (imagine that).

To say I was not looking forward to this week would be a major understatement. When i declared "Spring Break" as our potty training week, I must admit, it seemed pretty far away. 3 months ago is when I came up with this plan and those 3 months sure did go by fast. I counted down the days til Spring Break with extreme dread. I even contemplated buying large quantities of lottery tickets hoping I would actually win and then could pay some willing child psychologist expert (or just another gullible mom) lots of money to potty train him for me. I thought about just keeping him in diapers til right before kindergarten and letting him potty train himself (ok, not really). I begged my mom to come potty train him for me and I even considered enrolling him in daycare for 2 months just so they would do it for me (David said "No" to that request).

My biggest fear was that he seemed soooooooo NOT ready for potty training. All of the moms in our playgroup have been diligently preparing their sweet little boys to use the potty for months with books, videos and they have been patiently sitting them on the potty each and every day to get them accustomed to it. I have not. He wouldn't go near it and seemed to have ZERO interest in ever doing such. While I didn't gather a lot of info from books on the subject, I did read one of those articles about "take this 10 question quiz to see if your toddler is ready to potty train" and the results were not encouraging. I think we had to answer "yes" to at least 7-8 of the questions to know our child was "ready" and we answered "yes" to only ONE of them which had me believing this kid was gonna still be in diapers at his middle school graduation. He seemed as ready to potty train as the mailbox sitting outside. NO INTEREST WHATSOEVER and basically NO clue about any bodily functions. The kid would sit in a soaking wet diaper or a very nasty diaper for hours if I would let him. He flat out doesn't care and certainly doesn't seem to notice.

But, since I had totally cleared the schedule for the week I really couldn't back out. I had stocked up on everything I could possibly need so I wouldn't have to leave the house all week and could dedicate the whole week to doing nothing but potty training. (how fun). I bought 9 pair of training pants and decided we would not use "pull-ups" for the risk of confusing him. It was going to be all or nothing around here. We stocked up on clorox wipes, carpet cleaner, rubber pants and we rolled up all the nice rugs. I stopped just short of actually moving all of our furniture out of the house into a storage unit (and don't think I didn't consider checking myself and Noah--and all our potty supplies--into a local motel for the week for this event).

We started out day 1 by presenting Noah with 2 gifts to unwrap. One was his new training pants ("big-boy underwear" we emphasized) and the other was his "Thomas the Train" potty seat. He eagerly tore into the gifts (expecting something much more exciting) and when he saw what they were and what we were asking him to do, he politely handed them all back to us and ran as far away from us as he could get. Yes, it got off to a very "encouraging" start! And that is when David left to go to work and said "GOOD LUCK" to me.......LOVELY!

......to be continued