Wednesday I didn't do very well. He pee'd in the potty several times, pee'd on the deck once and the rest of the time everything in the diaper. He did alright for Dianne on Thursday, using the potty a few times at her house. Still no number 2 though. Friday morning, I went to work and received a phone call from Fogg and Reed saying he had pooped in the potty! How exciting! Fogg took him to the splash park to have some fun for being such a big boy.
When I got home in the afternoon he had set up these two chairs in front of the TV. Elmo is his potty training companion (he also has a sippy cup and potty). Reed has taken Elmo under his wing the past few days, taking care of him. He is cute, gives him drinks, asks him if he wants to do stuff, saying "there you go!" like we must do. He sat Elmo next to him to watch some TV (disregard that I was watching a little Chris Rock). He was talking to Elmo at this point, not sure what he was saying.
Saturday morning, we were both there but I was up painting Reed's big boy room and Fogg said that he had a number 2 accident on the floor. Apparently Reed was very upset about that. Later, when Reed was napping, I was cleaning the play room and found that he not only pooped on the floor, but he also pooped in a play construction vest and hid it. Fogg had no idea about it, Reed knew he must have done something wrong. Each time he had a success we celebrated, hugged and gave him a treat (most of the time a marshmallow). Each time he had an accident we would remind him that he should pee or poop in the potty and he would always say "tay" (which means ok).
Sunday morning we were feeling like failures but Reed went pee in the potty pretty much every time he was naked (which was every time we were home). That's one success I guess. He did still pee in his diaper when it was on though. He was acting very much like he does before pooping and we decided to be like hawks on him so we didn't have another construction vest incident. We kept asking him if he needed to go to the potty and he was getting a little irritated with us at that point, saying "no" like "stop asking me!". We told Reed that if he pooped in the potty we would get him a new toy dirt bike (he other one had just broken). So after a little avoidance apparently the need overwhelmed him, he stopped what he was doing, dropped the things his had in his hand, yelled "potty!", ran over to it and pooped! We were thrilled! Immediately, we got dressed and went to Toys'R'Us and got him a new dirt bike! He was excited the whole way over to the store, saying "dirt bike" over and over again. Then after he got it, he wouldn't let it go, kept saying "dirt bike! mine!". I guess it was a good reward for him. Unfortunately, it didn't stick, he pee'd and pooped in his diaper the whole time we were out. He pee'd in the potty a few more times yesterday afternoon. The other exciting thing is that he has mostly kept his pull-up diaper dry when we are out. He still doesn't get that he can just tell us he needs to go potty when we are out and we'll take him.
Anyway, not complete success but not a complete failure either. Potty training is definitely a difficult task for both the child and the parent but one day he'll get it! Any advice from my very few readers would be much appreciated! We think that we should continue with the training, even if our first attempt was spotty. Right now, our technique is to have him naked from the waist down when we are home and constantly ask him if he needs to go potty. We reward him and tell him how proud we are of him when he does it right. When things aren't quite a success we will tell him that we don't pee or poop in the diaper (or wherever), we should use the potty and he agrees. Pee is for sure a lot easier to get him to do in the potty than the other but we'll get there. We have some backup dirt bikes for other milestones in this process.
In other news, I painted Reed's new big boy room this past weekend and am working on repainting a dresser and other art work that will go in his room. We have a busy fourth of July weekend, but maybe I can squeeze in some room decorating time. I hope to have it finished within the next two weeks so Reed can start using it. I think it'll make him feel even more like a big boy to have a new room and a big boy bed. I'm excited about how it's going to turn out and will post pictures of it when it's complete!
That's all for now!
2 comments:
I would also like any advice your readers give you. I am trying to work up the will to start full on potty training with Jane. I bought pull ups and plan to take her to buy big girl underwear but I am overwhelmed at the thought of cleaning accidents and what to do when I'm out and about. It sure would be nice to be through the stage of diapers and potty training so it will be soon.
I wander if it's harder with boys than girls? Please tell me so :-) It will be interesting when we get to this stage. Sounds like you are doing a great job encouraging. One word, perserverence.
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