Slump

Did I update you too soon? To continue with the baseball analogy, it looks like our slugger as hit a slump. Despite the progress I thought I'd seen, we're 0 for our last 2...including a 1 a.m. wakeup call for mom. Yep, resulting in a 1 a.m. bath for a kid who had just gotten out of a bathtub a few hours earlier. Oh, I know these are just part of the growing pains, but had to whine to someone...thanks for reading. Tomorrow, today will be better!

Pretty Good Average

I've had this post about half composed in my head for the better part of a week thinking that I owed you all at least a short update on our potty training adventures. Things have been going pretty great. We're certainly not accident-free by any means, but it has become part of the routine and less of a big deal. Although I still remind him from time to time, I'm not incessantly asking if he is staying dry.

Pooping was the final hurdle, which I think we've cleared, but I'm still not sure we've crossed the finish line. After that first incident, I would say he was about 3 for 10 on achieving potty pooping success. Which if you ask any baseball fan, they'd probably agree .333 ain't a bad average. But, if you ask a mom, that's still 7 too many pairs of unclean underpants. The last week or so it has gotten a lot better. He's still holding it in and always waits until the last possible moment to reluctantly sit down on the potty, but the average is probably closer to 6 or 7 for his last 10.

He hasn't pooped in any potty outside our home and pretty much sits only on the big potty now for all business, which is good but means he needs help climbing aboard. Anyway, I hope he won't have a big issue in a couple of weeks when we go to the beach for a week. I know all our housemates are hoping the same!

New Look...

Not sure I like it, but the blog has a new look. I noticed blogger had changed some of their editing and design features, so I played around with them. Now, I can't really figure out how to get it back to the old look...so tonight I figured out a few things and altered our header to make it at least match the new color scheme.

This week is VBS at church, so the boys and I are busy with that. I'm assisting with preschool & kindergarten music, which is pretty odd since I'm no singer. Even more odd is that kids could totally care less about how great you sing! Anyway, the songs are pretty fun and we're enjoying ourselves.

Jack is doing great staying dry. Staying clean has been a little more difficult, but we have had two additional successful potty trips since our initial one a week ago.

Get Ready to Ride!

So, here's a recap of what happened at our house yesterday: after church and a short nap, I unpacked a new printer and got it installed. Our final big task of the day was to work on the missing piece of our potty training puzzle. Jack has been doing great, staying dry all day (even during naps and waking up dry most mornings). The poop has been our final hurdle. To quote Josh, "he's holding on to it like it's gold!" Our somewhat regular kid has gone to once every couple of days and those haven't taken place on the potty. Josh & I both thought we'd be able to catch him right before and then get him up there and praise the poop out of him, literally. It hadn't happened yet. So on Sunday he got a little encouragement (if you want the details I'll share, but in a different venue...somethings are even too much for this blog!), and managed to have his first successful poop on the potty.

I'm sure you remember the prize awaiting. Josh had actually planned to put it together earlier, but we both got sidetracked. So, I got Jack's tools and let him help. Josh got all the pieces out of the box and set to work. Jack kept saying, "where is it?" and looking in the empty box! Finally once Josh got the front wheel on his little mind (Jack's, that is) could see it taking shape. He grabbed the seat and got to work!

We took it for a spin outside. He already has the hang of the pedals, the steering is a different story. When we told him to turn he would lean his whole body over instead of actually moving the handle bars! Anyway, I'm most certain our poopy woes aren't over, but I do hope that with the first successful one behind us we can begin to make some progress now.

D is for Dry...

Friday was day four of PT, and we had a totally dry day...hooray! Granted, Jack didn't poop all day, but he stayed dry during nap and woke up dry this morning too! Today was almost accident free, the only setback being a #2. I guess we're still working up to recognizing the poop cues and learning that doing that on the potty isn't scary. We even ventured out for dinner tonight and managed to pee pee in a public bathroom twice! Thanks again for the encouragement; we're getting closer!

On the right track...

It's naptime here, so I thought I'd update you very quickly on PT progress, day 3 of bootcamp. Things are going pretty well, and I feel like there is certainly hope he'll be potty trained (at least #1) by the time August rolls around. We've been accident free all morning and made at least 5 or 6 successful trips to the potty. Two of those completely unsupervised...crazy, right? Most of Jack's toys are in the basement, and he loves to play down there. I had a few things to do down there too, so we headed downstairs mid-morning. He had just finished some juice, so I knew he'd need to pee at some point while we were down there. He's mostly been peeing on his little potty that is in our bathroom, but I prepared the downstairs bathroom with a makeshift stool and a seat insert to prevent him from falling in. So, after about 15 minutes, he told me he was ready to go potty. So, I helped him out a little bit, but he proudly did most of it himself. Since I felt sure he wouldn't need to potty again for at least a half hour, I headed upstairs to check on a napping Sam and start lunch. About 10-15 minutes later, I hear Jack yelling from downstairs, "I went pee pee." I was sure he meant in the floor. I ran over to the stairs to find him naked as a jaybird at the bottom of the stairs. I rushed down and he showed me his pee pee in the potty (I guess it was in there!) He had not only removed his shorts and underwear, but his shirt too! It was so cute! Anyway, he did this again about 15 minutes later.

So, here's a little breakdown:

Day 1 Summary: About 6 or 7 accidents (including naptime) and 4 successful potty trips.

Day 2 Summary: 4 accidents (including naptime) and at least 6 successful trips to the potty

Day 3 In Progress: 0 accidents (currently napping) and at least 6 successful trips to the potty (2 completely solo!)

Obviously, we'll have to work up to being able to use public bathrooms, because I do plan to leave the house again this month!! Depending on how the rest of the day goes and the weather looks, we might try the park tomorrow.

Another day down

So, another day is done in the potty training adventure. It was better than the first, but there is definitely more progress to be made. Had about 3 accidents today and at least 4 successful trips to the potty. Here's the big boy in his cookie monster underpants using his camera to take a picture of all his reward stickers.

Eventually

Yes, eventually I will blog about something other than our potty training bootcamp that is taking place this week. In fact, I still owe you details about our Memorial Day reunion with friends old and new. My mind, however, is still in complete potty mode. If you choose to ignore this and similar posts, I promise not to be offended. I can completely understand if you've grown weary of my potty humor...literally.

Anyway, as I mentioned day one finished on a high note. And day two picked up right where we left off. We didn't manage to wake up dry, but I had not expected that either. By noon or so, Jack had sat on the potty three times all based on my reminders and reading his cues. Twice those resulted in pee pee. He was quite proud of himself for staying dry...and of course, I was over the moon. I knew we still had accidents ahead, but I thought he was at least catching on.

I realized this morning that I had not left the house since church on Sunday morning and was beginning to go a little stir-crazy. I got Jack dressed and he said he was ready to go. I asked him where he wanted to go he said the grocery store. So, we ventured off to Ingles, where he was happy to partake of a cookie. We stayed dry during our whole outing, which also included meeting daddy for lunch at Side Street deli. On the way home, I asked Jack if he was ready for a nap, which he declined. Instead he wanted to play football. I agreed that sounded fun, but reminded him we were working hard to stay dry and we might need to go to the potty first. He declined. I unloaded the car and then came back out to play with him. Within seconds of my return he paused. I of course urged him to hurry to the potty, but he remained frozen. We had our first accident of the day.

So, after some encouragement to hurry inside so we could change, he replied, "no hurry, I walk!" I got him cleaned up and had him sit on the potty, but he had already let it all go. We went back outside for a little longer and watched the thunderstorm brewing. Finally, we were ready to come in for a nap. Despite his extreme distaste for mandatory potty time, I have been making him sit on the potty before naptime and bedtime (last night resulted in a successful trip). At this point he had what I felt was a pretty major set-back. He began to whine and beg for a diaper and asked to get up on the changing table. His pride in being a big boy had disappeared (hopefully temporarily). I managed to convince him to sit down for a bit and we read a book. By the end, nothing had happened and he had calmed down. So, now he's napping and will more than likely wake up wet, but hopefully be ready to tackle his dry-ness with a new vengeance!

In other news, I got some video of little Sam talking away to his daddy last night. I'll try to get around to uploading it soon...lest I lose the few readers I have left because of this potty monopolization.

P is for Progress

I know, I know my third post of the day...amazed, aren't you? We had several accidents today, but overall progress was made. By the end of the day, we were on our sixth pair of underwear, but had peed in the potty four times! Three of those were without accidents preceding them, so definite progress was made. I know we've still got a lot of work ahead of us, but glad to know we made some strides today.

Pass the towel?

Okay, so it's naptime here and it's pretty much the sanest I've felt all day. I'm catching up on some mindless activities like blogging and laundry. I felt I should put in another update to let you know that things have gotten mildly better since this morning when things started off with a real bang. (At one point, he admitted he'd rather be a baby and wear diapers than be a big boy and sit on the potty!) Jack is still pretty resistant to mandatory potty time, so I quickly ditched the timer method...there had been enough crying for one day. He's been wearing underwear all day and we've had 4 accidents. Despite my best efforts to watch his cues, signals and behaviors, we haven't managed to catch him preparing to go in time to get him to the potty. I have stopped him twice when I thought I was getting some signals and made him sit on the potty (which is still pretty agonizing), but we had no results. After each accident he has gone somewhat willingly to sit on the potty. One of those times after some urging and a somewhat prolonged sit down he peed to much celebration, fanfare and rewards. We even ventured outside to play with his new golf set.

I've spent most of the day talking about and congratulating him for staying dry while he plays and bounces around like normal...except for the fact that he's in big boy underwear. He is proud of wearing the underwear and was excited to show his daddy when he got home a little while ago. I got ready to get him down for his nap and had planned to put him in a diaper. He refused, so he's upstairs napping in his big boy underwear. I'm fully expecting for his nap to be interrupted by him waking to wet sheets, but I thought the fact that he didn't want to wear the diaper was a good thing. So, in the meantime, I think I just stepped in something wet...could you pass the towel?

Throwing in the towel?

It's only a couple hours into bootcamp and I'm already prepared to throw in the towel (or big boy underpants in this case). I've dealt with kicking, screaming, pleading, yelling and extreme frustration and Jack hasn't been happy either...just kidding. So, maybe I should just listen to those of you that said you tried at his age and your boys weren't ready. You urged me to wait until he decided he was ready. He wants to be a big boy SOOO badly, but I've been telling him that big boys don't wear diapers. This morning during one of our potty trips, I asked him if he was a baby. He insisted he was not but also asked to wear a diaper. I don't want those to be my signs...I want him to be ready. I was prepared to put up with accidents, but not with a little one who despises the potty. I don't want to give up...mostly because I hate to lose! Well, better go...it's almost time to try again!

Tomorrow...

So, tomorrow is day one of my official potty training bootcamp. I have read so many different articles and blogs and taken in so many different suggestions that it may be a little chaotic folks. I feel like I'll be winging a lot of it. We'll give the timer a try. We may try a bare bottom. We'll have stickers for trying, and we'll definitely have big rewards for results.

Just like last time I cried out for words of wisdom, I was again met with much encouragement after my most recent post. Even though I know so many moms have gone before me in this endeavor, it helps to hear you dreaded it, but survived. Some of you with ease and others with much weeping and gnashing of teeth. I guess the common theme I heard was the encouragement to wait until he was ready, which I have heard a lot. Even though he is resisting it a great deal, he is able to hold it, talks a lot about the potty, likes watching a musical potty video and other cues. So, I'm not sure if this is technically ready, because despite his interest he still doesn't want to actually do it!! With that being said, we're going to give my hodge podge of recommended methods a try this week. If it is a complete disaster, we'll abandon ship and give him a few more weeks to consider getting on board.

Although I welcome your suggestions, encouragement and sympathy, the main reason I chose to blog about the experience was to keep myself accountable. I know it won't be fun and I will want to give up, but if there is a group of folks wondering how it's going or at least pretending to be interested with their funny comments, I will keep on! I would really love for Jack to be mostly trained by the time preschool starts back in August.

On another note, we had a great long weekend catching up with friends. Some regulars and some longtimers that we haven't seen in a while. I look forward to filling you in on our Memorial Day gathering where the kids two and under almost out numbered the adults! It will have to wait until later this week though...I'm thinking I better get a good night's sleep in preparation for... tomorrow!

Eyes on the Prize(s)*

I'm not above bribery, at least not in small doses. So, Josh said he had read a potty training tip that included letting a kid select a few new toys and then putting them out of reach and then giving them as reward once said kid uses the potty successfully. I didn't balk; in fact, I had a few ideas for prizes. Jack loves bicycles, but probably isn't really ready for one. A tricycle on the other hand, seemed like the perfect motivation, right?

So, I saw a trike in the sales paper and we took Jack along to buy it. Josh stopped in front of it in the store, and Jack asked if he could have it. Josh said sure, but told him he had to poo-poo** in the potty first. Jack then basically repeated to me the agreement. While at the store, we even let him pick out some real underpants. Sesame Street (complete with Elmo & Super Grover) were the garments of our two-year-old's choice. Well, that was about 4 weeks ago...yes, that stinkin' trike has been sitting (in the box) in our bedroom (as a fervent reminder) for almost a month!! Not only has Jack not fulfilled the agreement; he basically refuses to even sit on the potty. How could this be? I mean just look at how happy the kid on the trike box is! (Okay, you're right...he looks a little too happy. Probably because he just peed in his pants! So, you don't have to be potty trained to get a bike I guess) Anyway, I expected potty training to be difficult and challenging, but this is going to be a LOT harder than I thought!

I don't feel like I'm approaching it haphazardly. Jack & I have been talking about it for many months, and I've been reading lots of articles, websites, etc. One common theme was basically, "don't push it, let them send you signals that they are ready." I also read some ideas about clearing your schedule for several days (basically not leaving the house)...so summer seemed like the perfect time to embark on our journey, right? Well, Thursday was Jack's last day of school/mother's morning out. I've been telling him all week that we are going to start using the potty next week. Each time I'm promptly met with whining and fussing.


Several weeks back (before the big prize purchase) we started a chart. Jack loves stickers. Since I felt I couldn't really give him candy every time I wanted him to sit on the potty (currently the only way he'll sit on the throne without crying and pitching a fit the entire time), we'd make it a game. Each time he sat on the potty, he'd get a sticker for his poster. Every time he washed his hands, another sticker. More stickers for each time he produced results and then more for flushing afterwards. The chart was only exciting for about an hour...

This same two-year-old LOVES sports and playing outside. He'll even settle for watching it on tv every now and then. In fact this morning, he asked to watch tennis. So, we watched the French Open while folding laundry. Another strong favorite is golf. I knew he'd love this little golf set. Hopefully, so much so that he would NOT wet himself and instead pee pee in the potty. So, here's the reward for #1...it's been around almost as long as the trike.

So, as excited as I am that summer is here, I'm also dreading the start of full-on potty training. Even though he's fighting it tooth and nail I feel like I can't wait any longer. I know he's only 2 1/2 but he's a big 2 1/2 and no one wants to be changing a kid's diaper that is as tall as them. The plan is to lay-low next week (starting Tuesday...even potty training deserves a Memorial Day reprieve) and spend a lot of time in the bathroom. Wish us luck...we are going to need it!

*I'm going to guess I'm officially considered a mommy blogger since I have just blogged about potty training!

**yes, I just typed 'poo-poo' on my blog. I hope this is not a sign of what's to come unless of course it's in the potty...then in that case, bring it on!