Potty Training Day 1 and Day 2

As I have mentioned in other blog postings I wanted to take the summer break that John has off from Mothers Day Out to introduce and hopefully get him potty trained. I have spent the last week or so reading different online articles and talking with friends who are either in the potty training process or who have successfully potty trained to get ideas.

Last weekend I made my way to the store to complete my potty training shopping list because once we started we were going to be spending at least a entire week at home. For those who know me this in its self is going to be hard since I am out with the kids at least every day if not every other day.

So, you may be asking what was on my PT shopping list. Well, I picked up a potty seat that sits inside our toilet (we already have a floor potty), twelve pairs of big boy underwear in the "Car" movie theme, a large bag of M&M's, potty DVD, clorox wipes, carpet cleaner, and paper towels.

After talking with friends and reading articles on what is best for potty training I borrowed ideas from all my resources and came up with what I thought would work best for John and for our family in general. As we got into day one I had to change some things as I found what John did and did not respond to.

Today is the end of day two and I think I have a good idea of what works well for John. I am sure things are going to change and I already have a host of questions for how you PT when you are out and about and other things. For now just PT at home is enough for my mind to process.

Leading up to yesterday I had been talking to John about potty training, what it means, etc...

Day 1

John wakes up and I explain that we are going to start potty training today and he gets to wear his big boy underwear. I explained that big boy underwear is not like a diaper and that he gets to use the big boy potty when he needs to go "pee pee" and "poo poo". So off came the diaper and on went the underwear which he loved since they had Lightning McQueen on them.

Next we sat in the living room and I put in the potty DVD. As it was playing my BFF called and I explained the undertaking I was attempting today. She gave me some other suggestion and a few of the ideas I thought would work better then my plan already in place so I changed things up slightly.

Long story short we ended up outside and naked (only John was naked, lol). I wanted him to see himself pee and connect the feeling with what was happening. I was hoping that when we went back inside a couple of hours later the thinking would carry over and when he felt the need to pee he would go sit on the potty. I was not sure how John would react to seeing himself pee, but John thought it was neat, funny, and he was excited about it.

Next I brought his potty outside and told him that if he felt like he needed to go pee pee he can go on his potty. I would ask him about every 30 minutes to see if he needed to go. I learned that John did not respond well to me asking him. I stopped asking him and he would just go sit on the potty when he wanted to or when he thought he had to go.

Once inside he sat on his potty and went pee pee. He was excited, I was excited, and Taylor was excited. I made up some random happy potty dance and song and we all had fun. John got to flush his pee pee down the big toilet and was then rewarded with two M&M's which he got to pick out. He LOVED the M&M idea and went pee pee in his potty about four more times within 30min. Each time we did the dance, song, flush, and M&M.

He had to half accidents and by that I mean he started to go on the tile and realized it himself and finished on the potty. All in all day one had two early morning half accidents and none the rest of the day. He even went poo poo on the potty with no issues what so ever. I never had to remind him or ask him to go sit on the potty. He would just say "I potty" and run over to sit on his potty. Some times he would go and sometimes he would not. I also put the potty in the dinning area so he could get to it fast.

Day 2

Same start as day one, played outside naked, came inside and played the rest of the day naked. This is just going to be naked week for him at our house. No accidents today, so exciting!!!!!

A couple of funny things from today. I told him I was going to go put Taylor down for a nap and that if he needed to go potty he can. About two minutes into giving Taylor a bottle before nap, John burst into her room yelling "I did it I went potty" (He says this every time he really goes). So Taylor was just going to have to wait on her nap. We all went into the dining room and sure enough he had gone potty, number two this time.

Second cute thing was while I was cooking dinner I spotted him standing over his potty like you are suppose to do to pee pee like a boy. I had to hold in my laughter. Nothing happened but he looked so serious about it.

So that is a long sum up of how potty training is going. I hope it continues to go well, but I know that we will have accidents and we will hit bumps in the road. If it does not last or he gets burned out with all the excitement I will try again in a month or so. In August when he starts back up at Mothers day out they will have a bathroom in his class and they can help him there as well.