Potty Training Take Three

It has been about a month since I talked about potty training, but we have had some interesting developments the past few days that I wanted to share. I’m keeping my fingers crossed, but I think we have FINALLY made some headway!

Last week, we took Keenan to pick out some underwear as another attempt to get him motivated to use the potty. He was really excited to pick out his own “big boy” underwear, as he calls them, in fact, he insisted on trying them on over his pants when he got home! During dinner that night, we talked about his new underwear and in order to wear them, he needed to stay dry and make all of his pee pees and poo poos in the potty. We told him if he can go a week with staying dry, then he can start wearing his underwear. We washed the underwear that night and I set them out on his dresser for him to see everyday. When we started last week, I set the timer for every hour, so no matter what, he had to sit on the potty and try to go pee or poo. The first couple of days were tough, as he went mostly in his diaper, except before his nap and bath time. Every time he went in his diaper, we would say, “Yucky, that is no fun. Where does pee pee and poo poo go?” Aside from saying that, we didn’t make a big deal over his accidents.

SO proud of his monster “big boy” underwear!

Starting last Friday, Keenan has been keeping his diapers dry, except for number two (since he seems to always do his business during his nap, ugh!). But, on Sunday, I’m proud to say he went poop in the potty for the first time!! My husband and I did the happy dance, praised and told him how proud we were. We also called our parents, so they could  express how happy they were, too. Keenan was so proud of himself, it was too cute! But, yesterday and today, he did his business in his diaper during his nap again.

Aside from continuing to sit Keenan on the potty every hour, I forgot to mention that we are using a reward system of Ritz crackers: a piece of cracker for a full pee pee and two whole crackers for poo poo. I don’t think I shared the whole “cracker story” on the blog, but when Keenan stayed with my in-law’s last month while my husband and I went to the North Coast for a few days, he convinced my mother-in-law to buy Ritz crackers while they were at the grocery store. He told my mother-in-law that Ritz were his favorite crackers and that I bought them (which I don’t!). Needless to say, she gave in and bought the crackers as a “special treat” (even though she didn’t think we bought them), which he scarfed down all weekend! When we came to pick him up, he was eating a handful of crackers for a snack and I asked if they were grandpa’s, and he said no. My mother-in-law told us the story and while she was telling us what happened, Keenan looked a little embarrassed, as he knew he pulled a fast one over Grandma! On our way home, we talked to him about telling the truth and what he told Grandma was a lie, which was not nice or acceptable. So, my husband and I decided that in order for him to eat anymore crackers (since my mother-in-law gave the rest of the box to us), he had to earn them by making his pee pees and poo poos in the potty!

Sitting on the potty with “Baba,” dressed in his t-shirt and Elmo socks (that he insisted on!). In addition, he also insisted that he wear his swim trunks over his PJ’s this morning!

Up until last week, the reward system of using crackers really didn’t work, but now Keenan seems motivated! I’m not sure if it is the underwear, seeing Naomi use the potty by herself, watching “Elmo Potty,” or reading a potty training book from the library (multiple times a day!) that has been the motivating factor, but so far, it is working.

This morning I asked Keenan if he would like to wear his underwear tomorrow, and he was pretty excited, so we’ll see how it goes. I have a collapsible potty seat for traveling that we have been using the past few days when we were out and about and so far, he likes sitting on it, so we’ll see how it goes when he actually wears underwear. I’m excited that things are moving forward (no pun intended!), but I don’t want to get my hopes up too high, as I know it is common for kids to regress, especially with boys when it comes to potty training. I’ll keep you posted on how things continue!

Okay, enough about potty training (you can obviously see what is consuming my mind these days!) After a good, but deceiving WOD similar to 13.2 this afternoon, and Keenan being SUPER excited and not wanting to go to bed on time, I’m SO ready for a hot shower and sleep!

Questions:

– For all of you veteran moms out there, what age did your kids’ potty train?

– When did you introduce underwear to your kids? If they had accidents in their underwear while potty training, how did you handle them?

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