Potty Training

Guess what I've been up to this weekend? Ok, so I guess the surprise was a bit spoiled by the title. Easton is 2 1/2 so I figured it was his turn to tackle that magic milestone. I tried to negotiate with Tim. I figured I potty-trained our first child (Dylan), so it was his turn to train one. No go. In the end, I talked him into doing a deep clean on the bathrooms if I did the potty training. Hopefully that happens soon! (the cleaning bathrooms thing). Anyway, read no more if you don't want the details of this fabulous time. I'm recording this more for me to look back on than for anyone else, so there you have it!

Saturday morning was the chosen day to tackle the job. A few days before, we took Easton to the store to pick out "big boy underpants". He chose 'Toy Story', of course! I was following the book "Toilet Training in Less Than a Day" by Nathan H. Azrin and Richard M. Foxx. It worked wonders with Dylan, so I figured why mess with a good thing!

First thing in the morning Tim gathered up Dylan and Gavin and disappeared until noon to leave me and Easton to the big job. Luckily, Easton seemed really excited about it all. Right away I put him into his big boy underpants and he examined them and promptly stuck his hand through the hole in the front stating "I have a pocket!" Yep, that's exactly what that is!

He was a trooper and did fairly well. We had our handful of accidents, but that's to be expected. By noon he needed a break (me too) and luckily he took a nap once dad and the boys got home. He woke up dry (yay!) and then I felt like I had to watch him like a hawk since I could tell he needed to "drop a load". He would be playing and then take off running to his bedroom where he would tell me to leave him alone when I came to find him. No chance! We finally came to an agreement. I put the potty behind his bedroom door where he kept hiding, and I told him I'd leave him alone if he stayed sitting on the potty. Success! He was so proud to show off his poop! I was just as proud! We all made a super HUGE deal about it and he was so happy.

One random thing to share - during the day I gave him all sorts of rewards for his great work. He got quite a few cookies and he wanted to dip them, but not in milk, in water. It sounded gross to me, but he was happy!

Day 2 (yesterday) started off with an accident, but things improved quickly from there. We have church in the afternoon, but both Tim and I are in the nursery (the younger of the 2 nurseries), so we kept him in our class with us. We took him to the potty 3 or 4 times on his request, but we were happy to do it as long as he stayed dry. He made it!

Today was Day 3 and it went so great! NO ACCIDENTS! Believe me, I realize there will still be accidents at times, but I feel like he's got this figured out. He's also figured out how to use it to his advantage. It got him out of a nap today. I stayed in his room with him trying to get him to settle down and go to sleep and he kept telling me he had to go potty. First, pee - and he did go, even though I had taken him just before going in to take his nap. Then he said he had to go pee and I told him he just went. So then he told me he had to go poo. Ok, off we go. And he did go. By then, I'd given up on the nap idea so he scored some "quiet time" instead. Which in turn meant he came out every 2 minutes asking if he was done. Why do I even try?

So I'm feeling so proud of Easton for the potty training! I hope and pray our success continues!!!

One random thing to share about Easton since we are on the subject- he has a new answer lately when you ask him a question. His response is "Of course". For example, "Easton, do you want a cookie?" His answer - "Of course!" OR "Easton, will you share one of your cars with Dylan?" His answer - "Or course." It sounds so grown up but it is darn cute coming from his mouth! What a cutie!