Potty Training Chronicles

We started potty training in earnest this weekend. Here are the updates I sent Moe's caregiver to keep her in the loop. 

Saturday 

Morning #1 went quite well! When we were at home, he was pretty much naked from the waist down the whole time. He wore underwear for a little while, but then had an accident and didn't feel like putting them on again. I think he finds being naked helpful because all he has to do is sit on the potty. He still needs quite a bit of help pulling pants up and down.

We had 4 successes and 2 accidents. For both accidents, he knew what was going on, but we didn't get him to the potty in time. He knows now that a success means a gummy bear. Also, he's reluctant to get off the potty - this could be for two reasons. First, he tends to pee in spurts - two or three times over the course of 10 minutes or so. Second, he's still building his confidence.

I'm hoping that over the weekend his confidence will grow.

While we were out and about for a walk in the rain, he wore a pull-up. And of course, he's wearing one during naptime.

I think we'll continue with him being bottomless while around the house as much as possible during weekends and evenings, and see where this takes us. I see no reason to have him out of pull-ups at your place yet - but if you're playing around in the backyard and want to bring the potty out and have him run around without pants, that's just fine. It's whatever you're comfortable with. Baby steps, right? Let me know how you feel about that, should the opportunity present itself.

Sunday 

We have had 5 successes and no accidents today! Moe got a few hours of "naked time" this morning, and a bit of time this afternoon. At this point, he does not toilet himself when he is not doing "naked time", but baby steps, right? Anytime he wasn't naked, he was wearing a diaper or pull-up. I think it's too soon at this point to get into underwear at home. I'd like him to enjoy being successful when naked. However, if you would rather he wear training pants or underwear when playing in your backyard, I'm fine with that and can send some in his backpack this week. Just let me know.

If you would like to also offer a gummy bear as a reward for success, I'd be fine with that. In fact, I think gummy bears are a good idea so that the reward is consistent. (Also that way he's not asking me for something I don't have!) If by some miracle he manages to do a b.m. on the potty, feel free to give him a whack of gummy bears as a reward. I'm all for positive reinforcement in that regard.

I was super proud of him this morning - we did lots of different things (colouring, a magnet game, playing with beanbags) and he was confident playing away from the potty. Then when he needed to pee, he told me, and together we went to the potty and he had success. He occasionally said, "Pee potty, Mommy?" and then didn't make a move to go toward the potty, so I did have to hurry him along in the right direction a few times, but we didn't have any accidents. :)

Also, this afternoon, he would sit on the potty for a few minutes, declare "All done, Mommy!" and get up. As soon as I came to him, he'd sit down again and say "More pee, Mommy." This became a bit of a game, but he had success, so I'm not going to knock it. 

Monday

Well, it's starting to take its toll. I think the combination of staying so close to home over the last few days (and we couldn't play outside pantsless because it was so cold!) and the stress of the change of using the potty is the reason Moe is having a very hard time going to bed tonight. He normally goes down without any fuss at all, but we're going on an hour of rocking and crying and rocking and crying. It was the same at naptime today - rather challenging. I mean, we did get out each day (looong walk on Saturday, went out for breakfast on Sunday and went for a haircut today) but the rest of the time was pretty much spent inside, naked if possible. Normally, we go on some kind of all-morning adventure, and the weekend was lacking that. 

I think he'll be very pleased to get back to day care and have a full and exhausting day. I wish the weather had been better this weekend - we could have done our potty training outside. Because it was so cold, we spent a good deal of time inside playing, which just isn't stimulating enough for him.

We did have success today - he peed twice on the potty and didn't have any accidents, but he spent so much time hovering over the potty that I think he's become pretty stressed about the whole thing. I have tried to make it clear than an accident, while not ideal, isn't a big deal, but he did not seem eager to be diaper-free today. Maybe I need to be less stressed about accidents. I got a bit short with him when he said he needed to pee on the potty but went to it and refused to sit down - he wanted to stand around it, etc. I should have just let him have an accident. It's a learning process for both of us. Also, he didn't have as much to drink today, despite my urgings. (Well, it was cold and wet. No surprise there, I guess.)

Either way, I think he'll really benefit from a day with you where he does all the routine things he loves to do. What are your thoughts?