Potty Training

Two Fridays ago, we officially started a 3-day potty training session with Logan.  He has been ready for a while now, but honestly, I was not.  Almost every Tuesday and Thursday when he comes home from St. Rose, he insists on wearing underwear because most of his friends at school use the potty.  The first time he actually used his Baby Bjorn potty to do his business, I remember thinking, “oh great, yet another thing I have to clean and sanitize.”  Of course, I did not tell him that but rather stated those words of encouragement and positive feedback!  The very second after helping Logan, Catherine made it clear that she too wants to participate in these potty parties.  I prevented her from climbing into Logan’s waste, thankfully, and realized that a “baby” potty was not such a good idea for my crew.

I called a dear friend and got the low down on potty seats.  She told me about a seat that is a regular toilet seat with a smaller seat that actually flips down on top of the regular seat.  It is wonderful and I love it!  So, we tried a popular 3-day method where you throw away the diapers and hang out with your toddler every second of each day; by the end of the 3 days they are well on their way, if not there already, to the land of dry underwear and no diapers.

There are a few more details, but basically that is it in a nutshell.  The author of this particular 3-day plan states that you need six key things to make the training a success (in no particular order):

• ·      Love
• ·      Consistency
• ·      Dedication
• ·      Positive Reinforcement
• ·      Patience
• ·      Focus

Let’s be honest, if I applied any one of those items more frequently I would be a better parent.  If I applied all six of them more frequently, I would be a rock star parent.  And what if I applied these to other aspects of my life, such as relationships or personal goals?  I mean the possibilities are endless.

Day One - After an hour and 15 minutes, Logan peed 6 times in six different places.  I honestly think he was just trying to make sure that he could pee wherever he wanted and whenever he wanted.  Or maybe he was marking his territory like a dog does?  I was pretty much about to lose it as I was running empty in my patience, focus, dedication, and positive reinforcement gas tanks. But then, just as Logan always does, he started to come around.  The next 24 hours he was smooth sailing on the toilet (not including night as we are still using a night diaper).

Day Two - Logan realizes that he can sit on the potty, but aim anywhere.  This was not amusing at all.  And the cleanup was extensive.  Brian had the next shift and Logan advanced.

Day Three - 80% of the time he makes it to the bathroom.  I started to realize just how much he loved being the big boy.  It separated him from Catherine and it allowed him to do other fun things aside from just using the potty.  Big boys get to go to gymnastics class and big boys get their own seat on an airplane.

All in all, Logan is doing great.  We still have accidents but they are trending downward.  I am so very proud of him.

Catherine has been a bit jealous with all the attention being paid to Logan the past couple weeks.  She is adamant about sitting on the potty but the only problem is that she is too small for the little seat and she almost falls through every time.  And that makes her mad… very MAD.  But she still insists on having her turn to sit.  I am starting to wonder if my precious baby girl is going to have a bit of the stereotyped fiery temper that is attached to redheads.