Wyatt, the potty trainer!

I know no one really cares about our potty training journey (unless of course, you are about to start one of your own!), but I still wanted to write about it. When I wanted to pull out my hair and pull back out the diapers, it was very helpful to me to go back and read about when I trained Audrey. You think you'll never forget something so traumatic as bodily functions happening all over your house, but details always grow fuzzy over time!

Wyatt had started telling me when he needed to do #2 probably at least a month ago, and pretty consistently. I knew he was still so young (now 19.5 mos), but I'm of the opinion that there's a magic window of time for many kids when they first gain physiological control that they are able to learn to use the potty. So I watched and debated. I got him a potty seat a couple weeks ago, and started letting him sit on it occasionally, mostly right b/f bath. He also is a predictable pooper, so I stuck him on there after breakfast several mornings. Last week, he pooped 3 times and peed a couple while sitting! Then it so happened that my work schedule changed this week (normally Tu/Th, not readily giving me a nice 3 day window of time), to where I would be home Mon, Tu, Wed. The stars are aligned!

I felt much more chill about training this time around, giving myself an open door. If it just went really terrible, we could try again in a couple months. It's not like the baby is coming next month! We have time. So Monday morning, we jumped right in. We had our giant stack of Spiderman and Cars underwear in the bathroom, our Clorox wipes, our Skittles, a tall pile of cleaning rags w/ antibacterial Windex and Resolve. We had the big pep talk of "No more diapers! Don't teetee in your underwear, tell Momma when you need to go! You're a big boy now, you use the potty!" He shook his head and almost giggled when I said don't pee on Spiderman, like that was the most absurd thought in the world! Pee on Spiderman?!?! Never!

Monday was, well a mess. I think he was ~50% in the morning, but I couldn't get him to drink a ton, so we didn't really have lots of opportunities. After nap, he started downing the juice, so we had LOTS of opportunities, most of which were not successes. I think he actually peed 3 times in a row, in his highchair while trying to eat supper. Ugh. After 5ish pees on the floor/chair, while I'm still stalking him saying "Tell Momma when you need to teetee!" ad nauseum (Yes, I even annoyed myself...), he did announce "poopoo!" and head toward the bathroom. Sat on the potty, and peed. Ok, we're starting to get somewhere! He went 2 more times b/f bed, so I felt ok about the whole process.

That night, I had a bunch of dreams where he was totally on the ball on Day 2. Just clicked overnight, and moved right along. Well, those dreams set me up for disappointment! Day 2 did NOT start well! Again, lots of juice. And lots of opportunities. Most of them were partial successes. He'd start to pee, I'd holler "You're going teetee!" and we'd run to the bathroom. Still LOTS of cleaning and lots of underwear, but he at least was stopping, holding, running, sitting THEN peeing. It was a busy morning, and I was starting to feel discouraged by naptime. Wouldn't you if you had to clean pee from your carpeted closet floor, the couch, the play tunnel, Audrey's play kitchen, the living room carpet, the kitchen floor, and inside the dryer?? When I woke him up from nap, 3.5 hrs later, his underwear were dry!!!!??? Wha?? After a morning like this one, how in the world did he hold his bladder for 3.5 hours?? But he did! And apparently that's when he flipped a switch. He only had 1 more accident the rest of the day (while I was busy answering the door) and 1 slightly damp underwear, everything else in the potty! Woohoo! Now we're cooking!

I got a little greedy, I guess. Since his brain switched on over naptime, I thought, well, we may as well try bedtime too! So underwear to bed, woke him up at 9:30 to pee, and crossed my fingers. Alas, he woke up soaked this am. Worth a shot though! Day 3 is upon us. After breakfast, he told me "poopoo!" and then ran and peed on the potty! He announces both of them as poopoo at this point. But I don't care! I'm not changing any more diapers! We'll tease out a few more details later. :) Over the course of the morning, he told me every.single.time. that he needed to go! 2 poops and lots of pee in the potty! I think he's got it! The only accidents we had were 1 teeny tiny damp underwear, and then when he reallllly didn't want to stop what he was doing, he didn't fully empty his bladder, so we had 3 trips in a row w/ dampness in between. But I still count victories! He didn't empty his bladder on the floor, and it's not a big deal to me to need fresh undies.

Kudos once again to my sweet big boy. These 3 days have worn him (and Momma!!) out! But we're done w/ diapers and his tiny hiney looks so cute in Spidey underwear. Call me crazy, and I probably wouldn't disagree w/ you. But I now have ~4.5 months of DIAPER FREE DAYS!! That alone is worth a little happy dance!

Potty talk

Audrey seems to have overcome her fear of other potties! I managed to convince her to go at church on Sunday (let her sit for about 15 mins). Then Tues was back to MDO, and I was pretty nervous about how it would go. This was our first day back in a full week (see previous post). I took her potty right when we got there, tried to distract her a bit, and she teeteed! Her teacher reported that she went 2 other times, and she was in the same clothes when I picked her up! Woohoo! Thurs was the same story too! "Goo jah Audgee!" Overall, going very swimmingly. She's had 1 or 2 night accidents, which I partly fault myself. We eat dinner around 6ish most nights, and she's a slow eater, so many nights she is still drinking at 7. Considering she goes to bed about 8, it's tough to limit her fluids for hrs before bed. I try to keep an eye on the time so she doesn't load up right before sleeping for 12 hrs. Other than that, she's doing perfect!

Potty training continues...for Momma and Daddy

We ventured out Friday evening to Forest Hill, La to visit Blaine's family on the first road trip with a newly potty trained toddler, and a 7-week old baby. Um, are we crazy???

The trip down was...um, long? Tiring? Stressful? Wyatt just used that time to decide he wanted to eat every 2.5 hrs, instead of the regular 3. So it ended up taking us 6.25 hrs instead of 5. Hello, 12:30am arrival time. :-| Audrey did ok with the pottying, save one issue...we stopped to get gas, and I'm feeding Wyatt in the car. Blaine goes inside to the restroom, and as soon as he leaves, she says "teetee potty!" Uh oh. I'm scrambling now. "Wait baby, don't teetee yet! We have to get on the potty!" Like she knows how to hold an urge?? She's JUST trained! So I'm thinking, do I stop nursing and try to run in with both kids?? Cell phone! Call Blaine back to the car! Ring ring.... He left his phone. THINK! I continue trying to talk her down on the off chance that maybe she hasn't already peed??? Blaine gets back and it's too late. Grr. I hate that she had an accident on account of our lack of planning! Oh well, I guess WE had to get potty trained too...new 1st priority when you stop- take the toddler to go potty! (Duh! say all you veteran parents, right? haha)

We also had a bit of trouble once we got to Nana's house. Somehow, we didn't carry our pottying skills over to a new location. 2.5 accidents on Saturday. After no accidents for 3 days! Ugh! I'm frustrated, and Blaine is too, since this is essentially his first day around her since training. I'm wondering if everyone, including my husband, is thinking, ha, yeah right, suuuuure she's potty trained! I had a moment of doubt when my SIL's suggested putting her in pull-ups. I wanted to say "no! I didn't do pull ups at all! Just straight to panties! And I'm not crazy, I'm promise, it HAS been working!!" They were trying to be helpful, cuz I know they could tell I was stressed. But it was really just a momentary setback because she loooooooooooves her cousins and didn't want to miss out on the action! Lesson quickly learned for us, once again: Take her to the potty at intervals and make her stay till she does her business. EVEN IF she says "ah done! hiney!" as soon as her butt hits the seat. Not that I fell for that one...nice try, Audgee.

After the unsuccessful potty day on Saturday, I was a bit stressed. I knew this because I dreamed "Tell Momma when you have to go teetee!" allllll night long! I also dreamed she and I were on a rollercoaster (the old Excalibur at Astroworld for you Houston folks) and she kept trying to fall out cuz she was too little. Symbolism, maybe? ha! I'm also stressing because now we're about to go to church Sun morning (our first public outing) and I'm going to leave her with folks she doesn't know. How's this gonna go???? Well, kudos to the folks in the Piglet Class at Calvary. They were unflapped by the potty trainer, and their only concern was that she hadn't gone by the time I picked her up! I was just relieved she didn't have an accident. I stressed for nothing though, because Sunday was back to her normal self. No accidents, and she continues dry overnight and through nap for 6 days now!

Tomorrow is the first day back to MDO since potty training. We'll see how it goes...hoping she plays the rock star card and shows em how it's done! And, if not, well, everyone has bad days right?

Potty Training: Day 1

I'll just apologize up front for the content today. Yes, I'm one of those parents who "all they ever talk about is poop, pee, feedings, and sleep!" Sorry. It's kind of all I have going on right now. :)

SO! I've been sweating it out, debating with myself about whether or not to bite the bullet and start potty training A. I'm pretty much of the mentality that you should just go for it, and no turning back! But I was terrified (silly, I know) she wouldn't do well, and I couldn't go back to diapers, so I'd be stuck in this never-neverland of continually cleaning up messes. Ugh. But I decided she really was ready, and I'd just take a big breath and go for it.

Started off the morning with the "big girl panty" speech and talked her through the "tell momma" routine. Gave her a fun, new cup so she'd drink lots and have lots of chances to go. The short version is this: she pees in her panties, I try to run her to the potty. Wipe up the pee, disinfect the floor, wash her down, new panties. "Tell Momma when you need to teetee!" Lather, rinse, repeat. Times 4. I'm getting pretty discouraged by this point. I guess no one told me the first day is just plain going to be messy! And I thought we'd have a few successes mixed in with the accidents. The good news: all 4 pees were in the kitchen! Does she know I have to clean these up?? Hmm. Thankful, either way. I finally managed to get her on the potty BEFORE she peed around 11, and I did the happy potty dance! I oo-ed and ah-ed, cheered and told her how proud I was! She looked at me nonchalantly and said "Hiney. Ah done." (Wipe my hiney. I'm through here.) A tiny ray of hope!

After lunch, we were playing a bit, and she informs me, "Poopoo!" !!!!!!!! We run to the potty, then I sit in the hallway to listen. Sure enough, she did her business in the potty after telling me she needed to!! Wahooooooooooo! I think we might be on to something! Now I REALLY did the happy potty dance! I was cheering and jumping around like a maniac! By George, I think she's got it! Once again, "Hiney. Ah done." Glad she's not getting too attached to all this praise.

Next up: naptime. Hmmm. The chick I'm reading about potty training says once you start in panties, you stay in panties. No diapers, no pull ups. They'll just "get it" at naps and bed. Um ok. Here goes. I explained about getting up out of her bed to teetee. 2 hrs into the nap, I hear her. Uh-oh. I check on her- wet bed. Bummer. Guess I can't just expect a miracle! However, the good news is, this was the last accident of the day!!

The biggest victory of the day was this: (although, let me interrupt myself- the poop was a HUGE victory!) I'm in the kitchen, she's on the other side of the counter getting a drink. I turn my back, then realize she's gone. Uh oh!! Rule number one of this potty training chick is watch your kid like a hawk! Don't leave their side, so you can catch them in the act/learn their potty cues. I hear running little footsteps, and go tearing out of the kitchen down the hall. Where do I find her? ON HER POTTY! With her panties still on. Oops. :) So I take her panties off...they're only a little wet?? She sits down and THEN lets loose with the pee! This kid. Man, she's good. Come to find out after we finished, there was a tiny little puddle in the kitchen. Wha??? She started to pee in the kitchen, stopped. Ran to the potty by herself and sat down. Stopped peeing again, till I got her panties down, then did her business! I think she's really got it!!!!!! Man, am I pumped!

Again, I took a huge breath, bit the bullet, and put her to bed in panties. I'm just anticipating a wet bed in the morning. Although, I do plan to take her to the potty when I go to bed, and when I'm up feeding Wy-Wy in the middle of the night. Here's hoping!

Above all, great cheers and accolades to my precious little, uh big, girl! She's growing up too fast! But she's kind of always been 1 going on 10. ;) And her tiny little butt looks so cute in big girl panties. :)