Potty Training!

Potty training has always intimidated me. There are so many ways to go about it and so many factors that can influence it. I knew what methods I didn't want to use, but I didn't know what I DID want to use. Enter the best book ever! Well, it's not the best book ever, but it definitely was extremely helpful and just perfect for William! I read Teri Crane's Potty Train your child in just one day: Proven secrets of the Potty Pro. This book  was great! Easy to read, but full of amazingly helpful information.
Here is the main idea. Plan a "potty party" day for your child. In the morning your child potty trains a doll/stuffed animal. Throughout the morning the doll will have accidents and successes. The doll is praised and the child is rewarded as long as he promises to someday use the toilet.
In the afternoon the focus switches to the child. Praise and reward for successes. Accidents are really no big deal. After an accident your child sits on the potty to "help build potty training memory muscles".  At the end of the day you celebrate the child and they earn a reward of some sort.

So now that you know the theory, here is how our day went.

March 16, 2011
I chose this day because it was David's first day of spring break. He took spring break off from work. There is strength in numbers. Plus he was able to take care of Henry.


William awoke to find a present with his name on it! 

Inside was a new friend. We decided to name him Tommy. Tommy arrived wearing a diaper just like William's. But inside his turtle shell were 7 pairs of underwear (that I had sewn for him the night before).

Throughout the morning, William and Tommy read books about potty training and watched a show about using the potty. Tommy had a few accidents of both varieties. But he also had many successes - we celebrated when he was still clean and dry AND when he successfully used his potty. Yes Tommy actually pooped and peed in the toilet. His poop were little raisins I sneaked in the toilet while William wasn't looking. His pee was just a syringe of water squirted into his toilet (the bottom portion of a juicer).  Each time Tommy succeeded he got a sticker on his chart, and William got to eat a little treat since he promised to someday use the potty.

After lunch and a little quiet time (William doesn't nap anymore), William got another present - his very own underwear!!! (We regifted his Christmas gift to him.) He was SO excited!

And thus it begins. 

William had had LOTS of fluids throughout the morning and early afternoon. We would check occasionally to see if he was clean and dry. When he was he would get a sticker on his own chart and a little treat. We then popped some popcorn and watched a little movie.
During this movie, William had his first accident. And let me tell you, it was HILARIOUS!!!! Seriously! We had a waterproof blanket down on the floor. He was standing on it close to the popcorn bowl while watching his movie. All of a sudden, he started peeing. Not a little bit, but a lot! All those fluids had struck with a vengeance! The funny part was his reaction. He started looking down and you could tell he was thinking "AH! What is going on here???? Where is this all coming from???" We got him to the bathroom and cleaned him up. He was SO very sad that Mater got wet. After he sat on the toilet for a bit to practice and build his potty training memory muscles, he chose out a new pair of underwear. David, thankfully, cleaned up the accident which was all contained on the waterproof blanket and which completely missed the popcorn!

After that accident, William had several successes! He stayed clean and dry until his celebratory party began.
We invited my parents, my brother, and David's mom to come for our potty party. Shortly after they arrived for dinner, William had another accident. This one was much smaller, but he was still pretty distraught. This time he got McQueen wet. Poor kid! My dad was the hero and cleaned it up! (Am I lucky or what?)

We enjoyed a pizza dinner and a fun time visiting and celebrating William becoming a big boy.

William was actually pretty overwhelmed after dinner. He did have another success, but he was pretty much done for the day. We put him back in a diaper (which we stressed throughout the day was JUST for bedtime).


He then got to open his special present to celebrate his successful day!


Buddy!!!

The next morning I was pretty stressed thinking this was going to be a failure. William proved me wrong though. The 17th was an accident free day. He peed and pooped on the toilet with NO problems! He went 5 whole days completely accident free. Those days even included outings and church! 

Here he is with his chart all full of stickers! Since his chart was full, he earned Tiny! 

We are so proud of our big boy!!!!

It has now been a little over 2 months since this fun day. William had an accident a week for the first 5 weeks. He has been accident free since then! And the most amazing part is he is dry through the night and has been since a week or so after we started. He was even waking up in the middle of the night crying because he needed to go to the bathroom. I of course thought to myself "you've got a diaper on, use that!" But I knew that I wanted him to learn to stay dry through the night so I would get up and take him. He only did that for a week or so. Since then he lasts through the night without waking up to go potty.  He does still wear a diaper to bed, but it is dry every, single morning!
William, you have truly amazed us! We are so proud of you!