Last Potty Update

We ended what I would call official potty training last week, August 15-21; the fourth week of PT and his last week as a 16 month old. Knowing I could have done it in a week if I'd have waited til he was atleast 2... I wouldn't change a thing. I can't believe it's been 4 weeks. It flew by and the hardest part was the first week, so it's kinda like it only took a week, right!? Haha!

During his last week he wore only undies, even to church! I took the potty with him to his class, because it's busy in there and I didn't want the workers to have to leave the whole class every 20 minutes to take him to the restroom down the hall. They said he went twice in the hour, wahoo!! And they appreciated that I brought the potty, as I was concerned they'd think I was a nut!

Every day he progresses a little more. Most days we make it through with no accidents. About 1 out of 5 times he tells us he has to potty, otherwise we ask him about every half hour. If he has an accident, it is our fault because we forgot to ask. He has stopped holding his poo for crib time. I have to watch for signs of when he has to go to help him make it to the potty. He has gone in his undies a couple times and as soon as he goes he rubs his belly "potty". So my hope for his next steps is to tell us when he has to go and start having dry diapers at bed and nap.

When we go to stores, I have him go in the potty in the van before and after the store. A few places that have big carts, like Target and Wal-Mart, I take the potty in with us, and just stick it on the bottom. We still go to the restroom to potty, but I take it in because the potty seat that you put on big potties is a pain. He gets really distracted if he is sitting on the big potty by the flush handle, trying to touch the toilet seat, grabbing the toilet paper; all of which GROSSES ME OUT!!!!! One time I didn't have anything (because he had just went in the car and I knew we wouldn't be long in the store), well he signed "potty". GREAT! So I put toilet paper on the seat, which he kept trying to grab off, he wouldn't look at me to focus, just trying to grab everything around him, and there was a lady next to us stinkin' up the place. I was grossed out to the max! And he would not focus to go potty!!! Finally the lady in the next stall started peeing, so I told Beck "shhhhhh, listen, potty! go potty!" It worked! Thanks stinky lady!! The sound of her peeing helped him focus and go. Haha!!

So this whole potty training in public has brought up a few conversations at our house. First, like I said, I sometimes take the potty into the store with me. Would you bust out the potty right there in the aisle and let your child pee? Not in the food section!!! The other predicament I've found myself in is, what do I do with my cart full of our personal belongings (my purse and his bag) and all my merchandise (sometimes it's after I've checked out)? Do I take the cart into the bathroom and/or stall with me? Do I just grab our belongings and hope no one steals all my groceries that I've paid for? And the last one. What do you do with the pee, or more importantly poo, after he goes in his potty in the back of the van!? So if you have any opinions, either because you've done one of these things or witnessed it, or if you have successfully managed to accomplish one of these tasks in a public friendly way, please pass on your wisdom!!

As for me, I've not let him pee in the aisle, although I've been very tempted for fear of "we're all the way across the store and he needs to go potty, would I rather have to clean up an accident or have someone maybe walk by and see him peeing?" I have taken the cart into the stall with me, yes the stall, not just the restroom; once at Target in the family restroom and once at Wal-Mart in the handicap stall. People, you don't think these things through until they are happening and I don't do well under pressure of a possible embarrassing accident. And I've never had him poo in the back of the van, only pee, and I just dump it under the car. I still don't know what I'd do if he pooed. Bag it??

Potty Training Update

Movin' up to the big boy potty!

When you gotta go, ya gotta go!

First day in big boy undies!

Elmo helps time pass on the potty!

Confined to the living room covered in blankets!

On Saturday, August 13th we went to Mom's for Leah's birthday party. It was his first full day in big boy undies. He had done great at home in them all morning. We would consistently ask him about every half hour if he had to go and take him even if he said no. But I feared it would be different at Mom's since it would be a lot of excitement and people to distract him. He made it to her house without an accident. Step 1 accomplished! During the 5 hours that he played there, he made it with NO ACCIDENTS!! Hooray! He was very reluctant to go there because he did NOT want to leave the "party" to take time to potty. But once he finally got a couple under his belt, it was much easier. He was probably sick of EVERYONE asking him if he needed to go potty too!

On Sunday we took him to church with a diaper on. His classroom is always packed and I didn't want the workers to have to worry about him peeing his pants. I hope to send him next week with undies though! He had his first dry diaper after nap that day! Woohoo! That night we took him to the playground with his undies on. We took the potty with us and he went in the back of the van as soon as we got there. We played for about 45 minutes and he stayed dry!

Monday, August 15th, began the 4th week of PT. I decided to take him to run a couple errands with his undies. He peed before we left, then we went to the bank, then we went to the grocery. As soon as we got to the grocery, I took him potty in the back of the van. He wasn't too eager to sit still long enough to go, so we watched Elmo. He went! He made it all the way through the grocery dry. I told him every 5 minutes, "don't go pee pee in your undies, no potty". We tried to go again as I was unloading groceries; He was willing to sit, but didn't go. While he was trying, a grandma was walking by. She commented on him so I told her he was potty training. She wanted to cheer him on then, so I sang the "pee pee on the potty" song while she clapped and hoorayed in the background. She told me she had her kids PT by the time they were 2 and it just takes time, but it can be done. She told me she could tell I was a great mom. She was very sweet and definitely an encouragement!

Once we got home he played for a bit while I unloaded groceries and then I fed him lunch. After he was done eating lunch and I was cleaning him up in his chair, he said "poo poo", so I quickly got him out to go. Only to discover he had just peed in his undies. Bummer. It was his first accident in his undies. On a side note, he doesn't say pee pee, only poo poo, so I think that's his word for both. I learned that that day.

For 2 days, Friday and Saturday he didn't poop. Not in his diaper and not in the potty. Sunday morning he woke up with a poopy diaper. Sunday night we spent a long time on the potty with Elmo in hand to help him take time to relax for a poop since he was gassy, but no luck. On Monday we did the same thing several times, hoping to help him poop and not hold it in (if that's what's going on). Finally Monday night he started doing his little poopy dance. He gets all nervous and knows it's coming so he dances around, which is great for me because it gives me a signal! So we put him on the potty and he started to push, then all of the sudden he got scared and so I was kneeling down with him and hugged and comforted him. That only lasted for a second and then he continued bravely with the rest! He got lots of cheers for this one! So I'm not sure what the cry was for... if he was scared of going poop on the pot (he's done it many times before, but this was his first time on the big potty with the kid seat on it) or if it hurt because he had held it for almost 48 hours (but it didn't look like it would be painful, small and soft). Hopefully it was just a one time thing and he goes like a champ in the future!

Also Monday night, his potty was sitting in the living room and he kept going over to it, pretending to go pee. He would make the "pssssssss" sound and everything. Jamie and I just kept watching and a couple of times went over and took his undies off to see if he really wanted to go, but no, just pretending. Well the third time he did it we didn't go over to him, assuming he was still pretending. He continued to make the same pee sound and look at us and laugh. I kept telling him he was pretending and "don't pee pee with your undies on." Next thing I know he stops making the noise, gets a serious look, and stares at me. Sure enough he peed with his undies on. Jamie and I joked... so do we reward him?? We did.

As of today, Tuesday, he hasn't left the house yet, but doing great in his undies at home. We played outside for an hour in the sprinkler, pool, and water table. He said he had to go poo poo once so I sat him down, but he didn't go. About 10 minutes later he went over to the potty, sat down, and started pretending again, sound effects and all. Then he actually went! On his own, without undies on, without any prompting, and he could have gone anywhere in the yard with all the water that was spraying around him!!! I was super impressed.

Potty training

I decided to start potty training at 16 months... It was as close to baby due date as possible. I set out with intentions to at least try. I figured I'd be able to tell quick if he wasnt ready and I was willing to stop and try again after he turned 2. I couldn't pass up an opportunity to try before the baby was born though...the pay off of one less diaper to change or pay for, and to not have to potty train with another kid in the mix, seemed worth a try.
I began when he turned 15 months by teaching him the sign for potty. Then we would take him to the bathroom with us when we went. We would talk about what we were doing and let him flush and tell the potty "bye bye" (which actually became the first time he said"bye bye").
We began PT on monday, july 25th. My strategy was to not leave the house for a week, to not put a diaper on him for that week, pump him full of liquids so I'd have lots of chances to teach, and have him sit on the pot every 5-15 minutes.
For 2 days we stayed home and only played on the hard wood floors and Beck ran around without a diaper. I put him on the potty every 5 minutes. It was really hard to get him to sit much more than 10 seconds. He had lots of accidents to which I told him "no no, pee on the potty, not the floor." He began to catch on. I would hear "no no" and look at him to find he had an accident and was pointing to his pee on the floor. He became the accident police...if he drooled, spilled water, anything wet on the floor, he would point and say "no no". He had about 4 or 5 successful pees on the potty.  We did a pee pee dance and he got an M&M (he'd never had chocolate before, he loved it!)
On day 2 he began to prove Pavlov's Theory true...every time the timer went off, I better have him on the potty because he was peeing!
On days 3 and 4 Jamie had the day off so we could celebrate our anniversary. We hadn't planned for potty training to be a part of that celebration, but I wasn't going to stop what I'd begun. However I did have some flexibility because I felt Beck and I needed it. I had expected to be further along in the process since the only training I knew of was a hard core 5 day training plan from my friends. I was doing all the right steps, but Beck wasn't moving at the rate of the other kids I knew. So I had to step back and realize all the potty training stories I knew of and that my friends were advising me from were based on kids 2-3 years old. I realized I needed to use my own judgement about what Beck needed and what speed was considered "good" for him. I also asked some other generations what had worked for them and their opinion of his progress. I got very different feedback from them. My mom, who had my brother and I potty trained by 14 months thought I should stick with it, expect a slower rate, and be pleased with the progress so far. Grandma Janet was equally impressed with Beck's progress and encouraged me to stick with it.
So on days 3 and 4 while jamie was off work we potty trained without a diaper on at home, but we left the house occasionally in which he would wear a diaper. It was nice to have the break.
I had learned Beck's poop signs and on day 4 while we were playing I had suspected he had one coming, so I stayed close by. About 10 minutes into the watch I decided to go get a towel from the laundry room. As I walked back into the room I saw the poop hanging out of his bottom about to drop onto the one bare spot on our white wool rug (the spot that I had run to get the towel to cover). Jamie was into his play station game 6 inches away from Beck and completely unaware of what was happening. Without thinking, I ran over to Beck, stuck my hand under his bottom and caught the poop in my bare hand.  Jamie then became aware of the situation from all the commotion, and looked at me like I was crazy and started laughing. After I realized what I had done I quickly walked to the bathroom without looking in my hand and disposed of the evidence. Not one of my finer moments but I didnt have a mess to clean up on the rug!
The next couple of days didnt seem too successful. Beck wasnt willing to sit on the potty every 5 minutes anymore, he wasnt responding to the timer like before, and he seemed bored with his toys and the same room we'd been confined to for a week. So I became discouraged. Thats when the encouragement my mom and grandma gave really made a difference and I decided not to give up.
On august 1st a light bulb went off in Beck's head. He began pushing when I put him on the potty (which was about every 20 minutes now). Almost every time something would come out, even if just a dribble. He was getting it! He only had a couple accidents a day for the next couple days.
Then another couple days of set backs. He quit trying to go while on the pot and had lots of accidents.
On august 5th another break through. He signed (rubbing his belly) that he had to potty. So I put him on the pot and he went poop! If it weren't for these moments, I'd have given up!
The next few days were pretty consistent. He began signing more often to tell us he had to potty. He has been waking up from naps and night with a poopy diaper. I assume he is trying not to poop while he is awake so it happens when he has a diaper on.
So at the beginning of this week, on monday august 8th we started our 3rd week of training. He is having about 1 accident or less a day. If I put a diaper on him to run errands or at mom's house, it is usually dry in between potty breaks. He has started throwing fits if I try to make him sit on the potty and try. At first I was fighting him but have decided not to since he has gotten so good at telling me when he needs to go and not having accidents.
On wednesday august 10th he showed awesome progress! We had been at the zoo all morning so he had worn a diaper. We got home and I left him in his diaper for lunch because I didnt have time for PT before nap. Just before nap, I told him "mommy is going to potty, do you need to go"? He said "no no" so I went on to the bathroom. He came in, signed potty, and so I put him on the pot. He pooped and peed! He got 3 M&Ms, 1 for telling mommy, 1 for going on the potty, and 1 for not going in his diaper.  I just couldn't believe it! He could've just not said anything and gone in his diaper! This was when I felt like the PT was going to stick and decided to post it on facebook for the first time.
Today I decided that he was ready for another step forward. So we took up all the blankets/towels off the rug, opened all the bedroom doors, and put him in big boy undies. We had our house back! Once he started to have an accident but we caught him and he was able to finish in the potty. He also went on the big potty for the first time! Hooray! Another good day!
So throughout the day we ask him if he needs to go, and take him if he is willing to try, but mostly he just tells us when he has to go. He loves to do the potty dance and get his "treat".
Our next step will be leaving the house with undies on...yikes! Thats gonna take some courage and patience! Stay tuned!