So I don't recall exactly where we were at in Dylan's potty training the last time I wrote about it, but I can tell you that he's been peeing in the potty for oh I'd say at least 3-4 months. Pretty much right after we moved down here to NM and got settled into our house.
However, he would only pee in the potty if we left him completely bottomless. The minute you put a diaper, pull-up, or big boy underwear on, he'd pee in them. Because of that, we haven't really taken him out of the house with JUST his underwear on. Although, when my parents came to visit 2 weeks ago, my Dad did take him with him to the Shopette for about 20 minutes in just big boy underwear and he did just fine and then I took him to the post office and a quick (I mean one item quick) trip into the grocery store, also without an accident. That is about as far as we've been brave enough to go though.
Anyway, he's pretty much mastered the whole 'peeing in the potty as long as he's bottomless' thing and in fact, will pretty much go all on his own without any assistance. We decided about a month ago though, that he can't go through life bottomless, but we also didn't want to take any steps backwards by keeping him in a pull-up or diaper (when we're home to train him anyway), so we decided to just suck it up and let him start potty training with underwear on. We have all tile floor so it's not really a HUGE deal if he has an accident on it, but having JUST purchased all brand new furniture and an area rug, I was needless to say a little hesitant. But it needed to happen. So it did. We hadn't tried keeping him in underwear while at the house since we first started potty training, but I noticed this time around was a lot easier. I think letting him run around naked for a while and getting used to peeing in the potty first actually helped. I think we've only had one, maybe two accidents in the underwear this time around. For the most part, he will tell us when he needs to go. Even when we're out in public and he's got a pull-up on. And sometimes, it's not always the most opportune time! Like the other day when we were at Wal-Mart. Before I started shopping I decided to bribe him with some McDonald's so he would be good (don't pretend like you don't ever use bribery with your child!). I was going to just get it to-go and let him eat it while I was pushing the cart, but he wanted to sit down, so we did. JUST as I got done getting the 'spread' set up (his drink, nuggets, fries, sauce, etc.) he frantically says, "pee pee, pee pee!" So I felt his pull up to see if he had already gone and he hadn't. I don't know what I was thinking at this point, but I said, "Ok buddy, just a minute, try to hurry and eat first". Seriously? I'm potty training him and trying to teach him to tell me when he has to go and then he does and I'm selfishly (because it was all out of selfishness. I didn't want to have to pack up everything that I had just spent forever getting situated) asking him to hold it? Bad mommy! Anyway, after my common sense kicked in (or maybe it was my guilt from watching him do the potty dance) I packed everything up and rushed him down to the bathroom. I kept checking his diaper to make sure he still hadn't peed in it and then we get there and there was a line. Really??!?! I kept asking him to hold it and feeling the front of his pull-up and I'm not even kidding you, right as we got into the stall I checked it one last time as I was getting ready to take it off and he had JUST gone. I could tell because it was still warm.
I was still so proud of him for telling me and for trying to hold it. If I had just packed up when he first told me, we probably would've made it.
So back to the update. Basically, over the past few weeks when we've been home we keep him in his big boy underwear and we go out, we put him in a pull-up and either way, he's been doing so much better about telling us he needs to go instead of just peeing in either of those. Sometimes we make it, sometimes we don't....and sometimes it's just a false alarm.
Anyway, the absolute latest and greatest though, is that he's actually been going #2 in the toilet! WOOOOOOHOOOOO! You have NO idea how thoroughly impressed and excited I am! After having watched my nephew struggle so badly with it, I feared the worst. And he actually started showing some of the same signs that Brandon did (I'm happy to announce that Brandon is OFFICIALLY a big boy now and no longer needs a pull-up though!). He knew he had to go, we knew he had to go, but he wouldn't go unless you gave him a diaper or pull-up to put on. We didn't want to make him get 'backed up' or anything so after asking him a couple of times to try in the potty, we would just put one on him.
BUT, the other day Trav decided to try the strict approach and tell him he couldn't have a pull-up, positioned his step stool right in front of the toilet and said, "If you need to go poo, you can go in here". We left him alone for a little bit and then next thing we know, he's climbing up and doing his business!!! Wahoo! SUCCESS! We made such a huge deal out of it and gave him candies (which I haven't used to reward him with since he first started peeing) and he's gone in the toilet everyday since.
Today we are on day four. And today, he went absolutely all on his own without me even having any knowledge of what he was doing. For the last couple of days what seems to work is to just kind of let him have his privacy, but we knew he was headed back there to 'take care of business', so we'd spy on him to make sure he didn't need help and/or wasn't making a terrible mess. Well today, I was out in the kitchen and he came running out to me and said, "poo poo". So I said, "Oh do you need to go, c'mon". We walked back there (and this is where you might be thinking "TMI"....or you may have thought that throughout this entire story, but then I challenge you by asking, "Why are you reading a potty training blog if it's TMI? ;) anyway, we walked back to the bathroom and there in his truck potty (which he hasn't been using except as a step stool to get onto the big potty) was his 'business'. It was gross and fascinating all at the same time. I was so overcome with joy though, that all of the grossness of it went out the window. Besides, I'm a parent and quite frankly, I've seen a lot worse!
So that's that. I just had to share because I'm such a proud mommy right now!
However, he would only pee in the potty if we left him completely bottomless. The minute you put a diaper, pull-up, or big boy underwear on, he'd pee in them. Because of that, we haven't really taken him out of the house with JUST his underwear on. Although, when my parents came to visit 2 weeks ago, my Dad did take him with him to the Shopette for about 20 minutes in just big boy underwear and he did just fine and then I took him to the post office and a quick (I mean one item quick) trip into the grocery store, also without an accident. That is about as far as we've been brave enough to go though.
Anyway, he's pretty much mastered the whole 'peeing in the potty as long as he's bottomless' thing and in fact, will pretty much go all on his own without any assistance. We decided about a month ago though, that he can't go through life bottomless, but we also didn't want to take any steps backwards by keeping him in a pull-up or diaper (when we're home to train him anyway), so we decided to just suck it up and let him start potty training with underwear on. We have all tile floor so it's not really a HUGE deal if he has an accident on it, but having JUST purchased all brand new furniture and an area rug, I was needless to say a little hesitant. But it needed to happen. So it did. We hadn't tried keeping him in underwear while at the house since we first started potty training, but I noticed this time around was a lot easier. I think letting him run around naked for a while and getting used to peeing in the potty first actually helped. I think we've only had one, maybe two accidents in the underwear this time around. For the most part, he will tell us when he needs to go. Even when we're out in public and he's got a pull-up on. And sometimes, it's not always the most opportune time! Like the other day when we were at Wal-Mart. Before I started shopping I decided to bribe him with some McDonald's so he would be good (don't pretend like you don't ever use bribery with your child!). I was going to just get it to-go and let him eat it while I was pushing the cart, but he wanted to sit down, so we did. JUST as I got done getting the 'spread' set up (his drink, nuggets, fries, sauce, etc.) he frantically says, "pee pee, pee pee!" So I felt his pull up to see if he had already gone and he hadn't. I don't know what I was thinking at this point, but I said, "Ok buddy, just a minute, try to hurry and eat first". Seriously? I'm potty training him and trying to teach him to tell me when he has to go and then he does and I'm selfishly (because it was all out of selfishness. I didn't want to have to pack up everything that I had just spent forever getting situated) asking him to hold it? Bad mommy! Anyway, after my common sense kicked in (or maybe it was my guilt from watching him do the potty dance) I packed everything up and rushed him down to the bathroom. I kept checking his diaper to make sure he still hadn't peed in it and then we get there and there was a line. Really??!?! I kept asking him to hold it and feeling the front of his pull-up and I'm not even kidding you, right as we got into the stall I checked it one last time as I was getting ready to take it off and he had JUST gone. I could tell because it was still warm.
I was still so proud of him for telling me and for trying to hold it. If I had just packed up when he first told me, we probably would've made it.
So back to the update. Basically, over the past few weeks when we've been home we keep him in his big boy underwear and we go out, we put him in a pull-up and either way, he's been doing so much better about telling us he needs to go instead of just peeing in either of those. Sometimes we make it, sometimes we don't....and sometimes it's just a false alarm.
Anyway, the absolute latest and greatest though, is that he's actually been going #2 in the toilet! WOOOOOOHOOOOO! You have NO idea how thoroughly impressed and excited I am! After having watched my nephew struggle so badly with it, I feared the worst. And he actually started showing some of the same signs that Brandon did (I'm happy to announce that Brandon is OFFICIALLY a big boy now and no longer needs a pull-up though!). He knew he had to go, we knew he had to go, but he wouldn't go unless you gave him a diaper or pull-up to put on. We didn't want to make him get 'backed up' or anything so after asking him a couple of times to try in the potty, we would just put one on him.
BUT, the other day Trav decided to try the strict approach and tell him he couldn't have a pull-up, positioned his step stool right in front of the toilet and said, "If you need to go poo, you can go in here". We left him alone for a little bit and then next thing we know, he's climbing up and doing his business!!! Wahoo! SUCCESS! We made such a huge deal out of it and gave him candies (which I haven't used to reward him with since he first started peeing) and he's gone in the toilet everyday since.
Today we are on day four. And today, he went absolutely all on his own without me even having any knowledge of what he was doing. For the last couple of days what seems to work is to just kind of let him have his privacy, but we knew he was headed back there to 'take care of business', so we'd spy on him to make sure he didn't need help and/or wasn't making a terrible mess. Well today, I was out in the kitchen and he came running out to me and said, "poo poo". So I said, "Oh do you need to go, c'mon". We walked back there (and this is where you might be thinking "TMI"....or you may have thought that throughout this entire story, but then I challenge you by asking, "Why are you reading a potty training blog if it's TMI? ;) anyway, we walked back to the bathroom and there in his truck potty (which he hasn't been using except as a step stool to get onto the big potty) was his 'business'. It was gross and fascinating all at the same time. I was so overcome with joy though, that all of the grossness of it went out the window. Besides, I'm a parent and quite frankly, I've seen a lot worse!
So that's that. I just had to share because I'm such a proud mommy right now!
Taking after his Papa Honeman
This picture was taken on a completely different day, but when I was going through my phone to get the potty picture, I remembered I had it and well, I just thought it was too funny not to post! Ha ha!
I know I've been absent in posting, but I promise you that soon I will get back to it. I could sit here and list off a million excuses (some of them ligit), but the bottom line is, I just haven't taken the time to do it. Pure laziness, I know.
I will though, soon.
