Week 3, Thursday - Transitions

Well, our Henry boy is doing great with his potty training.  Not so well at Aunt Amy's house, but he's really doing well at Grandma's and at home.  Just yesterday, Matt took him to gymnastics then out to run a few errands.  Henry held it the entire time they were out.  Matt brought the little potty with him, but for whatever reason, Henry didn't go until he got home.  He held it all the way to gymnastics, through the hour long class, during the stop to pick up the CSA and all the way home.  That's nearly 3 hours.  And he went both poop and pee as soon as Matt got him home and onto the potty.  What a big boy!  He's still having some trouble at Aunt Amy's house, but I suspect it's because he's just having too much fun to stop to go potty.  Disappointing, but he'll get it.

He's doing so well that I decided it was time to try the big toilet.  I ordered a ring for him to sit on and a stool so that he could climb up himself and both arrived yesterday.  He wasn't very interested at first but when I told him that it's what Mama does, he started saying, "Mama, mama" and got right up.  It took him a few minutes to get himself comfortable and situated on it but once he was, he was fine.  He went pee pee right away and then just sat for a few more minutes.  This morning, he went both poop and pee on it without any fuss.  Once we were all done, he was very interested in standing on his stool and peeping into the toilet at his... well, stool.  Ha!  Anyway, he flushed and waved bye bye to his poop, then picked up his stool to go climb other things.  He's such a big boy these days.  Below is a pic I snapped of him sitting on the toilet last night.  What a silly, big boy.

Week 3, Monday - Weekend recap and today's successes

Well, at the risk of jinxing ourselves, methinks our boy is pretty much potty trained.  Can I say that?  I don't know.  He hasn't had an accident at home in... I don't remember the last one.  Over a week at least.  He does get stuff on the floor from time to time but it's when he goes and jumps up too excitedly before he's completely done.  He had an accident at Grandma's last week on Thursday.  We have only tried him on the potty, never on the toilet.  And we haven't even begun to attempt to do anything with nap time or over night.  So can I say that he's potty trained?  I guess not.  But we're not using diapers anymore for anything other than naps and over night.  He's just doing so great.  We're still bare bottomed at home but will be doing training pants at Aunt Amy's and Grandma's going forward.  We still have the pull ups in case the training pants don't do the trick, but I'm hoping that we don't need them.

We also moved him into his big boy room this weekend.  We aren't done with the bed yet, but we have him on a mattress on the floor in the interim.  I expect to have the bed done by this weekend so we'll be able to make this kind of a step-by-step transition.  I guess for the over night thing, we'll end up switching him into some sort of over night diaper he can pull down so he can get up and go in the potty if he needs to?  I have zero idea how the over night thing happens.  Does it just kind of happen on its own?  No clue.

I guess the next thing for us to do is to work on getting him onto the actual toilet.  There's not a lot we can do to help keep him from having accidents at Grandma's or Aunt Amy's so I guess that part is up to them.  We'll just keep being consistent at home and when we're out.  And I guess the rest will just come?  No idea.  Honestly, I don't even know how to make the transition from the potty to the toilet.  We'll have to get a little step before we start that and I'm thinking maybe we'll just wait until after my family is here for the 4th of July.  In the mean time, we'll just keep encouraging him to tell us when he's ready.  Sweet boy.  He's been doing so incredibly great.  I'm so proud of him!

Day 13, am - Poopy in the potty!

That boy of ours has done it again!  We had a HUGE poopy in the potty today!  But better than that, HE told me that he had to do it.  I slept in this morning so I was home when he woke up.  I got immediately up and brought him down to sit on the potty while I got ready for work.  He was compliant but didn't go.  He sat there and watched the iPad sweetly with me, though.  So I didn't mind.  Eventually, I got him up and gave him a banana.  We're still doing bare bum at home, so he was just bopping around naked.  I had some paperwork to fill out for school next year, so he ate his banana and played with some choo-choos while I did that.  About 10 minutes after I'd gotten him off the potty, he grabbed at his penis and said the word he uses for potty.  I'm not sure yet what it is, whether it's pee pee or potty or what, but it's the same every time.  I'm going to have to listen better.  Anyway, I asked him if he had to go potty and he shook his head so we quickly but calmly went over to the potty and he sat down while I cued up Madeline Kahn singing with Grover on the iPad.  By the time I gave it to him, he'd already peed right in the potty like he was supposed to.  Good little boy.  :)  He sat there for a few more minutes while I went back to my paperwork but eventually put down the iPad and shook his head 'yes' when I asked if he was all done.  Proudly, we marched into the bathroom to flush the pee-pee down the big potty.

I went back to my paperwork, while Matt got up and got ready for him to go to gymnastics.  He was still running about naked because I wanted him to sit on the potty one last time before gymnastics and at least try, though, to be honest, that's been pretty futile these days.  Now that he can tell us when he needs to go, he does and if we ask him and he says no, that usually means he really doesn't need to go.  Anyway, I was sitting there, doing my paperwork when he shouted "doo-doo" at me.  I turned back to him and he grabbed his bum.  I asked if he had to go poopy and he said, "no."  I wasn't sure that he'd actually said doo-doo he was playing with his trains and it sounds an awful lot like choo-choo.  But again, after he said that he didn't have to go poopy, he grabbed at his bum.  Matt was standing there and said, "yeah, that's his poopy sign," so I asked him again if he had to go poo-poo and this time he shook his head yes and started toward the potty.  I grabbed the iPad and cued up Maya Angelou singing with Elmo and handed it off.  Very shortly after he sat down, he shouted out his "success" sound.  Again, I'm not sure what the actual word is that he exclaims but it's the same every time so I'll have to listen better and take note of it.  Maybe I can catch it on video.  That would be wonderful.  Anyway, after he shouted, I asked if he'd gone poopy and he shook his head yes.  I went over to check and he hadn't.  I told him he was crazy and that he hadn't gone yet, so he should keep sitting there until he went.  He looked legitimately surprised.  Ha!  He really did.  He even stood up and peeped through is legs, as if he didn't believe me.  Super cute.  :)  Once he saw that he hadn't in fact gone, he sat back down to give it another try.  We went through that same routine two more times before we had some success.  On the last time, I almost didn't even go look because I thought he was crying wolf.  But I did and sure enough, he'd gone.  A LOT.  HUGE.  We did a little dance and sang a little song but left him there a few more minutes after Daddy's experience from the day before.  I actually asked him if he was done and he shook his head no, so it wasn't hard to get him to stay.  After a few minutes, he put down the iPad and looked into the potty to see what he'd done.  Such a good boy.  Again, we marched proudly into the bathroom to dump and flush and shout "bye bye!"  So proud of that boy!

I feel like we've made HUGE strides this week.  I'm not really sure we need to do the whole "30 minute timer" thing anymore because he really seems to have gotten the gist of things.  I ordered some cloth training pants that should be arriving today so I think we'll try switching over to those for Aunt Amy's and Grandma's houses.  At home, I think we'll stick to the bare bum thing for a few more weeks yet.  The "3-day potty training" website I used actually says you're not supposed to use anything at all but loose pants for 3 solid months.  And I think he does better while he's bare; seems to have fewer accidents.  I do like that he's using training pants, though, so he understands pulling them up and down.  I'm just so very very thrilled at his progress.  I expect more accidents and we've not yet begun the whole sleeping thing, but I just feel like we've come so far in two weeks that I can hardly believe it.  I guess he really was ready.  Thank you so much for recommending we try, Aunt Amy!

Day 12, recap - Telling Aunt Amy!

I only heard a brief overview of yesterday's progress from Daddy and Aunt Amy.  Apparently, he pooped in the potty for daddy, but got excited and stood up before he was done so he also did a little bit on the floor.  He then proceeded to get upset about it.  Daddy was able to calm him down and then flushed it down the big potty with a hearty, "bye bye!"  So that was pretty good.  Really good, I mean.

Later, he peed in the potty for Aunt Amy after telling her that he had to go!  That was the biggest deal.  She didn't have him sitting on the potty or anything.  She had tried that but it didn't work, so she got him off.  But later, he pointed to it and told her he had to go, so she helped him get his diaper off and he peed as soon as he sat down!   Way to go Henry!

As I mentioned before, the whole "telling other people" thing is HUGE to me.  He's exhibiting bladder control and recognizing the urge to go.  I'm just so very proud of him.  :D

Day 11, recap - not much more to add

Henry boy wasn't awake much more than what I reported already yesterday.  He didn't go potty again before his nap at Aunt Amy's house and then slept until 5 pm!  Goodness!  I guess he did end up going potty at her house (which is awesome) after he was awake, though.

I forgot to take off his diaper when we got home and he for sure peed in it during dinner at some point.  The iPad was dead so I wasn't able to get him to stay put on the potty either before or after dinner and I was too tired to fight with him.  He was so sweet.  He just followed me around, talking talking talking.  I wish I knew what he was saying.  But he was very chatty.  But anyway, mommy didn't have any success at all yesterday.  I was very disappointed that I didn't get him to go before he went to bed, but I was just too tired to push it, the iPad was dead and the internet needed to be reset so I couldn't' get it on my phone either.  And I just didn't have the energy to fix that before I put him down.  Poor little guy.  He has to suffer through my laziness.  I'm hoping he does great today so I don't feel as guilty about last night.

Day 11, am - Home with Daddy

Daddy's update (via text message):

Daddy - "Good day so far, Mommy!  Two pee-pees and a poopy in the potty!!"
Mommy - "Way to go, Daddy!  Did he poop that time he told you he needed to?  Or later?"
Daddy - "Later, but he peed that time.  Not right away.  Had to sit for several minutes."

I don't know what the poop communication was, if he told Daddy that he needed to go or if it was just the luck of the timing but we're for sure making progress!  I'm hoping things go a little better at Amy's house today than they did last week.  He's had several successive days of actually telling us when he needs to go potty so I'm really really hoping that continues and carries over to other people's houses.  Even if it doesn't, the sooner he totally gets it with mommy and daddy, the sooner I think he'll get it with others.  I'm just so proud of him!!!

Day 10, recap - Downs and big ups!

We had some exciting success yesterday.  :)  After a relatively disappointing morning where he'd pooped in his diaper before I got him up then peed on the floor, we successfully peed in the potty once before leaving to meet Daddy, the Terlizzis and Grandma/Grandpa for a Father's Day lunch at the golf course.  Henry was a bit of a terror during lunch, being very clingy, not wanting to sit in his high chair, and throwing just about everything we'd give him.  We brought the potty with us, but he kept telling us he didn't have to go and when we put him on the potty after lunch, we found his diaper to be soaked.  :(  Not too surprising because there were lots of distractions and I can't really blame him for not wanting to be taken away from the excitement just to sit on the potty, but I was still pretty disappointed.

But then, after his nap, we took him to the play ground and the pool at the beginning of our community.  We played hard for about an hour on the playground.  We kicked and chased the big, blue ball and hit a tennis ball off a tee.  We ran and ran and rolled and jumped and slid and swung and did all sorts of fun playground things.  And right in the middle, Henry told us that he had to go potty.  Really.  So we set it up in the trunk and had him sit, only to find that he was being honest and really did have to go.  Hooray Henry!  I liked doing that because it showed that we could take a break from the fun for potty time but that we could continue having fun after.  Once he was good and sweaty and red-faced, we decided to cool down in the pool.  Daddy and Henry swam and played with the big, blue ball in the pool for about an hour when Henry got out and again told us that he had to go potty.  Sure enough, when we took off his swim diaper and put him on the potty in the trunk, he peed right away.  Hooray for bladder control!  Hooray for communication!  I'm so proud of this big boy!!

Maybe, just maybe, we really can have him potty trained by the time baby #2 comes in September!?  Trying not to get my hopes up that high but he's doing SO well!  He's still having accidents and he's not communicating well at Grandma's or Aunt Amy's but it was only day 10 and he's taking breaks from super fun time to go potty?  I think that's VERY encouraging.  :D