Potty Training Round 3

As you may have guessed from the title (because you are oh-so-smart!), this is a post about potty training. I am in fact going to talk about pee and poop and post underwear pictures and discuss other toilet-related topics. Consider yourself warned and skip if you so choose.

Potty training wasn't something that I had directly introduced with Ben...it was something of a sporadic, sit on the toilet because the big kids do and therefore it must be cool but nothing really happens kind of thing. I suspected he was ready, but eh. It wasn't really on my radar.

And then, Megan started preschool (post forthcoming). That meant that for three hours on Wednesday morning, Ben would be the only child home. (Side note--it is SO WEIRD to only have one kid around!) On Megan's very first Wednesday being gone, potty training just kind of happened.

Ok, perhaps that won't really make sense. I have long heard about the miraculous "potty train in a day" method, made famous by Dr. Phil and touted by many a mommy blog. But no one I actually knew personally had done so I hadn't paid it much heed. But, thank you pinterest, I happened upon one blog that actually explained it really well and made it sound completely do-able. With that idea rolling around in my head for a while and then suddenly having only Ben home, I decided to do it. Rather spur-of-the-moment, are-you-sure-about-this adventure.

And, I'm happy to report fabulous success for day one. There are a few things that I found made a really big difference.

1-The Teddy Bear

We put underwear on a teddy bear. (I might have done a doll, like most people recommend that I've read, but the only dolls we have that aren't seriously claimed by a sister and therefore off-limits are princesses, and I just didn't think that Ben would care so much for a princess.) I had a medicine dropper of water that I would occasionally squirt onto the floor by the bear. We would then make a really big deal about the bear having an "accident" and send him to the bathroom (medicine dropper in use again), then Ben would teach the bear that "we don't pee on the floor, we pee in the toilet." "Not on the floor, in the toilet." "No pee on the floor, only in the toilet." Over and over and over again. There was a definite click here for Ben.

2-Just Me and Mom

I think it made a HUGE difference that for a big chunk of time, it was only Ben and me. No other kids dividing my attention, no tv, no phone, no computer, nothing. Just me playing whatever Ben wanted, all morning long. And running to the bathroom every 15 minutes.

P.S. He was being a butterfly in that picture. Then he played dinosaur and ate the butterfly.

3-Kool-aid

It's hard to pee if you just really don't need to, so I let Ben drink as much koolaid as he wanted all day long. I also gave him really salty snacks like popcorn and pretzels so he would be more thirsty and drink more Koolaid.

4-Rewards

Every time he went to the bathroom, he got a sticker on his chart and a piece of candy. The bag of candy was small so once it was empty the treats were done, and once the sticker chart was full we were finished with stickers. And, once he had all the stickers, he got a new truck. That happened the next morning.

5-Grandpa Jeff

There were a handful of times throughout the day that we wanted to celebrate even more than the way-over-the-top celebration from Mom, so we called Grandpa Jeff. (We actually called several people, but he was the only one who actually answered his phone. And he answered every single time--yay!) Ben was quite proud to report his success and Grandpa was quite content to celebrate. Win-win.

6-Hardwood Floors

This isn't something I necessarily created, but I was repeatedly glad throughout the day that we have hardwood floors. I rolled up the rugs and stashed them in another room, and we just hung out in the living room all day. Made clean up super easy.

The Verdict

After day one, I am pleased to report only five accidents. Only one of those was a full-on, pee everywhere accident. It totally freaked him out--good learning experience. After that, he would only get his underwear a tiny bit wet and then we'd run to the bathroom. Fabulous. He even stayed dry when he abruptly fell asleep for 45 minutes on the couch. Potty training is exhausting.

Hooray for a spontaneously successful day! Isn't it fun what we get so excited about as parents of toddlers.