Potty Training

FYI: This has info about potty training, may be TMI for some! Mostly for my records and to remember what I did once its time to potty train Camden!

Jackson was interested in the potty last summer when he was just over 2. I didn't want to force anything on him that he wasn't ready for, especially with a baby on the way. Not to mention I was also on bedrest at this time! So many people told me just wait until they are ready! So we would ask him and he would sit on it and even go potty a lot of the times. Slowly he started not wanting to use it and we didn't pressure him. By this point, Camden had arrived, so there were lots of changes already for Jackson. His teachers at school always asked him if he wanted to go during diaper changes but he always said no. All of a sudden it was July and he has to be potty trained to be in his preschool 3s class starting this September. I started getting stressed and then just committed a weekend to potty training in August after we were back from the beach and back from our DC trip.

We talked about it all week and then Friday morning after he woke up we started our pants-less weekend. I set a timer for every 20 minutes and when it dinged he had to go sit on his potty and try to go. He went every single time! We went to play outside and I brought his little potty outside with us and continued to set the timer. He continued to go peepee and then at one point said he had to go poopoo. Sure enough he sat on his potty and went! I was so proud and we made sure to call daddy at work and tell him. The rest of the day we continued using the timer and he did awesome! He wore a pull-up for nap and a nighttime diaper at night. He got stickers to put on a chart every time he sat and/or went on the potty. I had mini m&m's ready to use to bribe him to sit on the potty but thankfully didn't ever need them!

Saturday we woke up and he went pants-less again. We continued the time and I was doing every 25-30 minutes at this point. A couple times he would tell me before the timer dinged that he had to go. After his nap he wanted to wear underwear. We had a peepee accident and went back to being pants-less.

Sunday we decided to try underwear all day with a timer. He did great going when the timer dinged and also telling us when he needed to go. Sunday evening we had some friends over for dinner and between the excitement of having friends over, us being distracted by talking with our friends and being busy getting dinner ready we had a couple of accidents.

He played baseball, played at his water table and raked leaves! It almost didn't phase him that he didn't have pants on!

That next week I was nervous going out with him newly potty trained with a busy 10 1/2 month old. We had friends over on Monday and it was helpful because we had "potty time" and they both went. He didn't want to miss out on playing by me making him go so it worked when we made them both go. Tuesday we went to our friends house and I noticed he needed to go poopoo but wouldn't. It was becoming clearer that he was holding it and not wanting to go on the potty. I know that is a super common problem and we are working on it.

Now after about a week and a half he is doing really well and still in a pull-up at nap but it is rarely wet and always a diaper at night. He is a sound sleeper and I don't expect him to wake up to go potty right away. We ask him a lot of he needs to go and he will also tell us when he needs to go and has even been better about going poopoo on the big potty. Often times first thing in the morning and after nap it's hard to get him to want to go potty and put his underwear on. We get out of the house now - we just have to be sure to hit the restroom before we leave!

I keep emphasizing to him what a big boy he is and how cool it is that he gets to wear big boy underwear.  Even though he didn't initiate the potty training I feel like he was ready. I'm not sure he would have done as well as he has if he wasn't ready.