Day 0 - Re-read
Oh Crap. Potty Training by Jamie Glowacki. Mentally prepare myself for any kind of problem that will creep up in the next week or so. Tell Charlie that tomorrow we will be throwing our diapers away (something I have mentioned in the past week a few times). Read some potty themed picture books with Charlie.
Day 1 - First thing in the morning, Charlie and I took off his diaper and threw it away. Then we went downstairs and threw away all of the diapers in the box down there (I did not really throw them away, just let him put the pile in the garbage and later I took them out since we will still need them at night for a bit). He asked if he could wear big boy undies but according to the book, day 1 is the naked stage, so I exclaimed that he would get to wear them soon but that today was NAKED DAY! I got out the potty and we talked about how pee pee and poo poo go in the potty now. Today was a special day to learn how to put pee and poo in the potty so he got to be naked! Overall, it went really well on day one. He had a couple minor accidents (a couple drips of pee) early on in the morning, but by noon he was going on the potty independently without me even having to remind him! It was amazing! Also he was so proud of himself and kept saying "Wow, your really learning!" :)
Charlie throwing away his diapers on day 1.
Day 2 - We ventured into the world of wearing pants again. This brought on a new problem and dilemma. Charlie did not know how to pull his pants down! Because of this, he had a few full on accidents in the morning of day 2. He peed through 4 pairs of pants before he got it down, but by the end of this day, he had it and was again proud of himself for the accomplishment. Once the pants were on, he was not going independently anymore so I set a timer on my phone to go off every 45 minutes to remind him to take a potty break. This worked well. At the end of this day I felt tired and a little worried because he still had not pooped. He actually told me he was scared of poo poo on the potty! So that was a bit discouraging...
Day 3 - We continued with just pants and with using the timer to work in potty breaks every 40 minutes or so. He did well pulling his pants down all day. He insists on doing everything "by himself" today so I think he is feeling a little more confident. Another big success today... We left the house! We went to the library to get a couple new books and a new Wiggles DVD (his favorite). While we were at the library, he used their potty two times! Again, I was prompting him to go every 35 minutes or so to be safe but he did great while we were there and stayed dry in the car to and from, as well! Near the end of this day, Charlie still had not pooped and I could tell it was getting to him. He seemed uncomfortable and a bit more cranky than usual. I went to CVS and got him some prune juice (Man, is that stuff bitter! I had never tasted it before!). Within the hour of drinking some, I guess he could not hold it anymore and ta-da! We had our first # 2 on the potty! He was really excited and could not believe that came out of him! He then told me that poo poo on the potty was fun! YAY! It was a good day.
Day 4 - What an awful day! It started off okay, I guess. In the morning, he used the potty when the timer went off, but did not seem happy or excited about it like previous days. Fast forward to after his nap... He woke up and as soon as I took that diaper off of him, he lost it! He started crying and saying "No no pee pee! No no potty!" He asked me continually to put him in a diaper. It took about an hour to get him to calm down. Oddly enough, what worked was telling him that we had to stop wearing diapers because diapers were not good for our Earth since they make too much garbage. He is really into planets right now and so we talked about how we can only live on Earth because the other planets are too cold or too hot, etc... and anyhow, that going on the potty is one very big way he could help take care of the Earth. It did the trick for the time being! Unfortunately, this did not make him want to use the potty. Between the time he woke up (at 4) and when he went up for bath time and bedtime (at 7:45) he only went on the potty 2 times. Once I practically had to force him and the other time was after he already started going in his pants. The timer has seemed to have lost all effectiveness. Anytime it goes off he just cries and says no potty or no pee pee. I think he realizes now that this whole potty thing is for real and that he actually has a responsibility now. I think these things scare him and he wants to just retreat back to what is known and safe - diapers. But we have come so far and I don't want to go backwards! Either way, at today's end I really feel discouraged and in need of some help. I just pray tomorrow gets easier.
Day 5 - Today was "Operation back the **** off!" After re-reading key chapters in "Oh Crap Potty Training" last night, I realized Charlie's resistance was most likely coming from me putting too much pressure on him. I was "over-prompting" as Jamie Glowacki calls it. Basically I needed to quit it with the timer and just let him be. It was really hard to just trust that he would go when he had to go. Especially so early on in the game (my fast little learner)! Also I had to realize that really the worst that could happen was that he would have an accident. And what would be so bad about that? Accidents are learning opportunities at this stage so all that could happen would be for more learning to occur. Well Charlie proved that he was capable of doing this potty thing on his own today! He does not go as often as I thought he would have to! That is another big thing I had to adjust to - my expectation of him going every 30-45 minutes the past few days must have seemed crazy to him! He only needs to go every 2-3 hours!!! Oops. Well we are both learning, right?!
Day 6 - Great day today. Charlie is really becoming independent with going to the potty. Occasionally, if its been a couple hours and he looks like he has to go, I still have to suggest he takes a quick potty break. But for the most part, he just goes when he has to! It's pretty incredible how far he has come in just 6 days!!! A couple other successes today... He went # 2 again! Woo-hoo! Also, we successfully left the house and made a quick run to Trader Joe's. Finally, today was the second day in a row he woke up from his nap completely dry. When I was going to take his diaper off after nap I asked him, "Did you go pee pee in your diaper?" and he looked at me like I was crazy and replied "No. Pee pee goes in the potty!" Love it! :)
Day 7 - We were out of the house all morning and Charlie did great! We went to Monkey Business to do some serious playing and as it was our first extended trip out of the house since starting potty training, I was a bit nervous. I packed extra pants and even an extra shirt (you never know) and waited to leave until after he went potty this morning. Well, he did a super job while we were there! He stopped playing twice and took a potty break with me. He liked using the little toilet they had there for kids. However, he did accidentally stick his foot in the toilet while trying to get situated! Of course the one thing I did not bring with us was extra socks but luckily we were able to purchase a pair at the front desk so no real harm done there! After a few hours, Charlie was hungry and asked if we could go to Panera for some Mac-N-Cheese (it's in the same parking lot and he saw it on the way there...). Anyways, I thought "Why not?" since things were going so well so far. We got our food and sat down to eat. About half way through our meal, Charlie looked up and me and said, "Want to go to the potty?" So I quickly got him out of the high chair and into the bathroom. After struggling a bit to get his pants off over his shoes, he sat (backwards straddle style) on the big potty and did his thing!!! I was so proud of him for telling me in the middle of eating lunch that he had to go and then actually making it there without any problems!
"Relax, Mom... I got this!!!"
He amazes me everyday and seems to always exceed my expectations! Overall, I think this first week of potty training has been fantastic! I cannot believe how far he has come in such a short time!
