We finally made it! Diapers are gone and underwear is here to stay.
Jackson's potty training story is a train of events. In my mind, it started about a year ago when we moved back to the States. I felt like he was ready to say goodbye to the diaper, but I put off potty training because we were going through such a huge transition. I thought it would be a confusing time for him and that he'd succeed and then regress, so I put it off. I kept saying, "As soon as we get settled, I'll focus on potty training." Well, I never thought it would take so long to get settled!
When we finally moved into our house and got our stuff delivered, I started talking about it. I would mention that the time was coming when he would start pottying in the toilet and wearing underwear like Daddy. (He'd pottyed on the toilet many times before. We started putting him on the toilet when he was very young because we didn't want him to be scared of it.) I hoped to potty train him before Allison was born. On 9 July, he told me not to put his diaper on him because he needed to go pee-pee. We went into his bathroom and he got on the toilet. While he was sitting there, he looked up at me and said, "I'm potty training."
He told me that it was time to potty train. I was happy that he'd reached this decision on his own and thought it would probably be a breeze. We didn't have any underwear, so I let him run around bare-bottomed. I don't think he ever had an accident. When I'd put shorts on him, he'd sometimes have accidents. I realized he needed to make the connection that his shorts weren't diapers and to pay attention to the sensation to go. If I would have kept this up for a few days, I think the diapers would have been gone in July.
Now, this is where my ignorance will really show! There was rarely a day that we didn't have to leave the house for something. After all, we'd just moved in and were getting ready for a baby. So what did I do? I put a diaper on him when we left the house. I was always so rushed and quite honestly stressed out about all of the things that needed to be done before Allison was born. Consequently, I didn't want to hassle with him wetting his pants while we were out. I also put a diaper on him for his nap, which I still do...just in case, but made the mistake of not
making him take it off every time he woke. (I'd offer but he wouldn't want to.) So he was spending part of his day in a diaper and part of his day without it. Talk about confusing! Before long, he was in diapers again 24/7. Wow. I was such a bad trainer!
After Allison was born, we decided to make a big deal out of going to buy his big boy underwear. (I know what you are probably thinking, "You still hadn't bought the poor kid his own underwear?!" Well, we kept talking about it, but we were so overwhelmed and busy with preparing for Allison's arrival that we just didn't get it done. And we all wanted to go together, so that made it much harder.) We went to Target and let him pick out the kind that he wanted. Here's our underwear shopping day on 22 August:
"I want that one."
Daddy's foot makes a great step stool:
Shopping around:
When I say, "Smile!" this is what he does:
A little better:
Loading 'em in the cart:
Washed and dried:
He is my official lint screen cleaner. He loves to do this for me:
We tried so hard to get a picture of him in his underwear. He didn't want to stop and be still. As I was turning the camera from vertical to horizontal, he looked at me and smiled. Luckily, my finger was fast enough to snap the photo. I thought it was the only one I'd get:
Little did I know, I was about to get two of the greatest pictures. No, these are not poses. Jason was telling him to salute (trying anything for a photo) and I was telling him that I wanted to see Thomas on his booty. So he's in the middle of trying to salute and turning around to look at Thomas on his booty. I just happened to snap the camera at the perfect time!
I don't remember what happened here. I was just snapping pictures and he was moving around:
It was a great day and the underwear was a hit, but he quickly decided that he didn't want to be a big boy. He still wanted to be a baby and wear his diaper. Being a first time potty trainer and remembering what everyone had warned me about (that kids usually regress when a baby is born), I put the underwear away and let him have his diapers back. Whether or not that was a mistake, I will never know. Part of me thinks it was, and part of me thinks it really just wasn't time. I didn't want to fight over it. I felt like having a new baby was a big enough adjustment for him.
As the weeks passed, I kept feeling like he needed to get rid of those diapers. I would ask him if he wanted to wear underwear, but he never did.
The week of Halloween, I ran out of diapers on a Wednesday. He spent most of the day without a diaper and didn't have an accident. That night, I put him in a diaper for the Harvest Hoedown at our church. I talked to the Children's Ministry Director while we were there. By accident (but obviously not), potty training got brought up. When I explained our potty training history, she encouraged me to not put him in a diaper again. She assured me that he was ready and that I wouldn't be pushing him too hard; rather, I'd be setting high standards for him to meet.
The next day, we had a play date with some friends. He wore underwear and had one accident at their house. He had an accident later in the day and then a few times on Friday (while friends were at our house and he was busy playing). On Saturday, he was gone most of the day with Jason and didn't have one accident while they were out. That was a huge success! I think he had one accident late Saturday afternoon but not once when he went trick-or-treating and none on Sunday. Monday, we drove to Houston and he went to the bathroom whenever we stopped. He did not have one accident while on our trip and it took us ten hours!! I was so proud of him. He continued to do great the entire week in Houston. He even does well during naps and at night. We go to the bathroom right before he goes to sleep. I put a pull-up on him just in case, but he hasn't wet his pull-up during naps or at night in over a week!
I cannot believe it was so easy. Even better, I didn't even have to plead with him to wear underwear. I didn't have diapers so there was nothing to protest about. I had read in Dr. Sears' Baby Book that one strategy is to "run out of diapers." I thought about trying it, but I figured he would tell me to go to the store and buy some more. I didn't think it would work on him, but it worked like a champ.
Jackson's potty training adventure is kind of embarrassing for me. I feel like such a failure...like such a bad teacher. Sure, I've done great the past two weeks, but what about the
months before that?! I don't know that it matters. After all, he is wearing underwear now. I just hope I don't perform this poorly in other areas in his life. Perhaps this is just a good lesson for me - I am not perfect nor will I ever be perfect. I am going to make mistakes as a parent, but God is working in all of them.
Here are some funny things Jackson has said pertaining to potty training over the past several months.
"It's clean sweeps!"
"Is it a log or a snake or poo-poo pellets?"
"Am I wearing a diaper or not?" (As if to say, "Can I pee in my pants or not?" Isn't that terrible?! Of me?!)
"I promise, I'm not straining."
"Look how much!"
And over all these months, he only had one pooping accident. I was in my room with Allison and he was playing in his room (without underwear on). My poor baby picked up his own poop and flushed it in his toilet before I ever knew what had happened. I felt terrible for him!
Perhaps this is too much information to be sharing on my blog?? If kids read this, I wouldn't post it. But it's just us adults. Besides, he makes me laugh, and I want a record of what he did so that he too can laugh about it one day. At our house, we're comfortable talking about all of this stuff!
