Potty Update

I was waiting until yesterday to write this post because I wanted to see how yesterday went. But then Deacon got sick, and so I wrote it today while I was at the doctor's. Anyhoo...Zeke has been doing great with potty training.

Thank you for your advice, to those who offered it. We did start out trying a sort of reward system. The boys and I made posters and we hung them on the bathroom wall. The idea was that every time they went to the bathroom on (in?) the toilet they could put a sticker or two on their poster. As you can see someone (ahem, Deacon) cheated quite a bit.

However, it got to the point where they would sit on the toilet then hop off, expecting stickers. Thus negating it's intended purpose. (I didn't really want to go the candy route because they have more than enough energy as it is, and more sugar is not something that they need.) So now they just put stickers up there whenever they want just because it's fun. Oh, and my potty record is better then my poster indicates, I promise.

Anyhoo, after a week or so of letting the boys run around the house all nakie bum, it seemed like Zeke was starting to get it. So I took Joni's advice ( which I think she said was another friend's advice to her) and decided to just put Zeke in some underpants and see what happened.

He, of course cried and carried on about not wanting to wear underpants, and about how much he wanted a diaper. But after 5 minutes he realized I wasn't going to change my mind on the matter, so he changed his mind and was happy to be in underpants. Now he wakes up in the morning (or after a nap) and says, "Helllooooo underpants!" as we pick out a pair to wear.

For the first week we still put him in diapers when we left the house. I didn't want to push him too hard and cause some sort of regression, but he is now comfortable leaving the house in his underpants. He's been to the store a couple of times in his underpants. He went to church this past weekend in his underpants, and even used the bathroom at church (3 times - only actually going once) with my help (those toilets are pretty big).

Yesterday was our big "test" though. Yesterday was the first PWOC we went to with him in underpants. This was a big deal because he would have to do it all by himself in a place he'd never gone before and he emerged victorious. The one childcare worker said she had asked him if he had to go and he told her that he wanted a diaper, but she told him he could use the potty and so he did. He still needs some help snapping his pants, but he can do it all on his own now. He's such a big boy.

And, for those who are/were concerned about the little toilet in the living room during movie time, I pretty much stopped doing that after I wrote about. He now tells me he has to go potty, I pause the movie, he goes, comes out and says, "And movie go now!" That's when I hit play and help him finish getting dressed.

Of course, he still wears a diaper for naps and to bed at night, and he still hasn't pooped in the toilet yet, but we'll get there. I'm not worried. Now Deacon on the other hand, he's just not ready. I let him wear underpants in the morning because he doesn't usually do anything in the early a.m. But it's diapers for the rest of the day out for the little man. Again, we'll get there. I am quite pleased with the progress we've made so far.


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone