Potty Training Boot Camp

We took the diaper free plunge about a month ago and it has been a crazy fall into uncharted waters (and by waters I mean pee and lots of it). I decided that the weekend after D's 2nd birthday would be perfect (no traveling until the move home in late June and no big events). My friend sent me a link about potty training in 3 days or less and I was skeptical, but decided to go for it

I really wanted D to be potty trained over here (all tile floors) instead of back in Houston in my own house! Soooo, on a Wednesday afternoon when D woke up from his nap, we said "bye, bye" to diapers and pants (the latter temporarily). I attempted this major step while Kel was out of town. Probably not a good idea. You definitely need back up on an undertaking of this magnitude (first piece of advice to my future potty trainers).

I followed the article's advice to the letter. We stuffed ourselves on pretzels, crackers, and chips and then washed it all down with STRAIGHT juice. I felt like I was breaking the mom rules, but the article said to do it. And, as many of you know, I follow directions. Meanwhile, 4 various colored Ikea potties dotted the kitchen, living room, and dining room and all the rugs were safely upstairs (second piece of advice - get into a room with tile only). The plan was to watch him and periodically put him on the potty and dance around if any pee/poo made it in. Unfortunately, we did not dance until the next day. I was on him like butter on bread until I had to make dinner (third piece of advice - don't bother with doing anything useful during this time). That's when he chose to pee over his pile of cars (like 20 of them). In keeping with the article, I acted disappointed, but inside I was marveling at the trajectory. Wow! So, I grab my handy roll of paper towels and my disinfectant and cleaned up the floor. The cars I threw in a bucket to deal with later (fourth piece of advice - put away most of the toys until you get through this and keep the remainders in one room that you can easily see into at all times).

I figured at that point that I was safe for a few minutes and went back to cooking dinner. Wrong. Apparently I learned nothing from my college bar hopping days and the importance of not breaking the seal! I hear "mommy, mommy" not five minutes later and I run into the living room to see a puddle of pee and Dyl stomping around in it with pure glee on his face. I was not amused and grabbed the rapidly diminishing roll of paper towels. Apparently he stored it all up and managed to mark most of the downstairs by bedtime.

Thursday I finally got him on the potty AND he peed in it. We danced and danced and he got to flush the toilet (fifth piece of advice - don't bother with treats, the flush is great). I allowed myself one small sliver of hope. The rest of the morning, until naptime, was hit and miss. Literally. We moved to about a 50/50 percentage. But, I was still not sure if he was ready for this. I figured I'd give it a couple more days (staying at home has its good points). The article recommends taking off a Friday or Monday and doing it over a three day weekend.

That afternoon after his nap (safely in a diaper I might add - I'm not that crazy) all hell broke loose. His friend came over and in hindsight, it was too soon. He peed all over the floor and MORE toys (the pile of toys outside to be washed quickly multiplied). I was pretty upset that night, but decided to give it through Friday.

Friday morning, pantless and diaperless, was the turning point. He started sitting down on the potty by himself when he had to pee! We were dancing all morning! He was accident free for all of Friday! I was pleased as punch and so glad I stuck with it. (sixth, I think, piece of advice - don't give up too quickly)

I think on Saturday he had only one accident, but I was pretty confident that at least at home, he was potty trained. What was even better was that he knew when he had to go and sat down on the potties by himself (including poos).

On Monday I took him to school with his potty and explained to his teacher how successful he'd been at home. I packed extra shorts in his backpack just in case, but I really didn't think he'd need them. Over confidence is not just for the athletes apparently. When I went to pick him up three hours later he was in different shorts. I was pretty disappointed, but they had at least not put him in a diaper (you can't go back)! We also hadn't attempted to leave the house yet either. I figured we needed as much practice as possible at home.

I realized that at home I had kept him without any pants on (which the directions said to do) and while that worked for home, it wasn't acceptable to be at school without pants on. So, starting that afternoon, we kept pants on and practiced pulling them down and I taught him "pull shorts" if he needed to pee, in addition to the more obvious "pee, pee". At home he just peed through his shorts. I didn't want to put him back in diapers to go to school, but I knew it wasn't fair for the school to have to deal with him peeing everywhere.

That night Kel had a softball game and Dylan and I went to watch. It was our first outing besides school and I was nervous. It was a bit of a drive to get there and we hadn't had success with the whole pants thing. I still held strong and kept him out of a diaper, but packed extra clothes. He peed through his pants about 10 minutes after we got there and after I got him completely cleaned up and changed, he peed again in the new shorts. I had to let him sit there for a few minutes in his wet pants because I was out of clothes and couldn't let him run around naked and couldn't decide what to do. I finally decided to put him in a diaper (against my better judgement, but I was out of options).

I was disappointed that night, but the next day I put him in pants again. He peed through them in the morning, but told me "pee pee" as he was doing it. I cleaned up the floor and his legs and let him sit in the wet shorts while I did that. When I finished I put on clean shorts. After that he told me "pull shorts" the rest of the day and he was accident free! I was so proud of him.

The next day at school I gushed to the teacher how I'd gone through the whole pants regiment only to pick D up 3 hours later and find him in DIFFERENT shorts! Uuuuggh. I think that with the kids and all the different toys that it was too much for him to think about.

On the 4th school day after I started potty training he came home in the same shorts and everyone was excited!

We've been out and about several times now and Dyl tells me when he has to potty and can even use the big toilet! He hasn't had an accident out anywhere since the softball game.

So, I guess I get to say DYLAN IS POTTY TRAINED! Woo hoo!

I also want to say that I don't buy into the whole "boys take longer than girls theory".

Here are a few big boy pictures!