Friday, May 14, 2010

"I want my diaper on."

Zoodle has been showing plenty of classic signs that he is ready to be potty trained. Here he is last week, happily sitting on the potty, while enjoying a lollipop and watching TV:

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These little happy potty times were starting to be productive more and more often. So I decided that Wednesday was the day we'd start potty training in earnest.

There are plenty of potty training experts out there who have specific plans for how to do it effectively, even in three days...or one day! I actually don't want to put that kind of pressure on myself. I've learned I stay more sane if I can let go of a timeline.

I'm using a mishmash of different techniques such as potty time in the living room in front of the TV (a brilliant suggestion from my friend Amy); plenty of diaper-free playtime, M & M bribery (oh, I mean rewards); and good, old-fashioned playin' it by ear.

Some experts say all diapers should be taken away at once, but I'm still putting him in diapers for bedtime and naptime, and in Pull-Ups for trips away from home. It may mean we have a lot longer until he's truly diaper-free, but that's okay with me. I don't want to deal with messes in the bed, carseat, and grocery carts! I do hope to be able to take him places in underwear soon, but sleeptime diapers don't bother me too much. He'll eventually figure out that part!

So, how is it going? Well, Wednesday was so-so. We had four incidents of peeing on the carpet, and four in the potty. Zoodle was not happy and kept insisting, "I want my diaper on." He also did not want to wear his new Lightning McQueen underwear. He seemed out of sorts, and I'm pretty sure he was thinking, "Come on, Mom, we had a good thing going! Why'd you have to go and change it?" Despite his resistance, I was fairly happy with how Day One had gone.

Thursday Zoodle still kept asking for his diaper, but things turned around after he took a good afternoon nap. He decided in the evening that he wanted to wear underwear, and we began alternating between naked time and underwear time. He had zero pee pee accidents, all day! Pooping may take longer to master, but I did manage to catch him mid-poop and get him on the potty just in time to prevent a really messy underwear accident. Hopefully before too long he'll purposefully sit on the potty to poop.

In other words...it's going really well. And I am so glad. Every kid is different, and Chickie has taught me how little control I really have over this process! I've been really hoping that training Zoodle would be easy. We've probably still got plenty of bumps along the road, but I do think the process with him is going to be comparatively simple.

Today is the first potty training day when I'm planning to be home all day long, with no need for public Pull-Ups. We'll see how our big boy does.... Wish him (and me) luck!

11 comments:

Call Me Cate said...

Go, Zoodle, go!!! (Get it?)

Unknown said...

I am glad things are going well so far. It terrifies me that I will have to train Ian soon. I am totally clueless (I probably should buy a book about potty training at this point.)

What a big boy you are Zoodle! You are awesome!

Sandra said...

You certainly seem to have the right attitude. I think (I don't really remember, and my second was a girl after a boy -- TOTALLY different dynamic!) most things are easier with the second one, don't you think? Probably because Mommy has more confidence, as you said, that "this too shall pass"! Good luck. :)

Sandra said...

BTW, I looked closer at the picture (Zoodle is, as always, cute as a button), but it really is a "life in transition" picture, isn't it. His binky in his hand, apparently ready to be replaced by a sucker in his mouth, and sitting on the potty but with a diaper at his feet. A classic. :)

Heidi said...

Yeah, Zoodle!! I agree that you're taking the right attitude! My son was trained in Sept (1 mo after he turned 3) but it wasn't until about 2 months ago he stopped having accidents. He still wears a pull-up at night (though he's now been dry for almost 2 wks so I think I'll get brave enough soon to let him wear underwear to bed). He wears underwear while running errands, but he still wears pull-ups on road trips because my engineer doesn't trust him on that one, yet.

A wise Mom of 5 once told me the 3 things you can force another human being to do are sleep, eat, and use the toilet. It's a good thing I heard that when my oldest was young because it's saved a lot of stress on my end!

jessjess77 said...

I actually thought about moving the potty into the living room in front of the TV, for training my daughter, but thought I was just crazy. Now that I know it isn't such a crazy idea I might just do that!

Faith said...

Sounds like it's going great! Hooray for Zoodle!!

Eternal Lizdom said...

Here's hoping for lots of dryness and not too much paundry and scrubbing at your house!

SurvivorBlessing said...

Hey Beth, I am so glad that this is going on already! I am very pro early training, so this is good. And he was the initiator, so just go with the flow....

I DO think that boys are easier. They can go pretty much everywhere at any time, like in the backyard - Coqui has his special Mami-bush that he has been 'watering' for the past two years!

And I am not sure if you have heard of those training underwears. They are thicker in the middle, almost like a thin diaper. But if he does have an accident, it won't be all over the Borders store floor (oops, did I just admit to that???). Yeah. I loved using those when Coqui was in training and had still his accidents happening. Target sells those in three packs, not too expensive. Sometimes even HEB has them.... They worked great for us.

Good luck to you, and call me if you need a play date at your house due to potty training! Love you.

Anonymous said...

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Boy kid :
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Anonymous said...

no diaper on I prefer little ones naked until 16