Potty Training

Potty training...eek! With uncertainty, we put a plan in motion and pushed through the steps of preparation to begin potty training Zane last Monday.

The week before, we intentionally talked about it non-stop. We held demos, with all family members participating and a few days before official training began, Zane opened a gift box with his new potty chair and a potty book. He seemed excited, so we felt encouraged to proceed. With a star chart and a chocolate chip reward system, Zane was eager to begin.




Day 1: When Monday arrived, we threw away the diapers, rolled up the rugs, stripped him down, and started the adventure commando with a potty chair in the middle of the living room while we disassembled Christmas 2010. He began spot on and did it six times over! I was beginning to think he'd trained himself, but then we added underwear and the second half of the day didn't go as well. He seemed to equate the underwear with diapers.


Day 2: We had an appointment that I had forgotten about that couldn't be missed. We broke my rules and used a pull-up while we were out. Three hours later we were home and back in underwear. The rest of the day was awful, not one success. Nothing like potty training to make one's world feel disastrous!



Day 3: Decided the underwear was too confusing and went back to commando style. We got an eye-full all day and Daddy was worried he might hurt 'something', but it didn't inhibit his toddler world. He was awesome! I think there were just a few misses the whole day.

Waving bye-bye pee and running for a chocolate!

Day 4: Continued the commando strategy and had one disaster on top of the dining room table...don't ask! That evening we took him out in underwear to run errands...very scary! He didn't go when we tried at the home store or the restaurant, but on the way home he told us that he had to go, so we pulled into a fast food joint and he held it till we got to the toilet. Very exciting!

Day 5 & 6: Reintroduced all day underwear and had just one accident each day.

Haven't had an accident since and I'm thinking this was way too easy!


Naps and night were an entirely different story - mess after mess after mess, yuck!!!! I was really trying for the no diaper, no pull-up, go all out, underwear immersion strategy. I got up several times a night to take him to the potty, but after five nights of urine everywhere, my complete exhaustion and some reading, I decided that right now he isn't physically capable of holding it while he sleeps and especially all night. And since he's still in a crib, even if he woke up to go, he can't get to the potty. It just makes sense to not sweat it, enjoy Zane's success and diaper free days. So, we're celebrating - woohoo!!