Get The Bowl Flushing

For the last 3 months we have been "trying" to potty train my soon-to-be 3 year old.  It started in about May when we tried to get really serious about it.  But there was zero cooperation from my little one. (I may be biased) but he is quite intelligent for his young age.  So we were so frustrated and confused as to why we just couldn't get him to do it!!


About a month ago, his teacher at "school" said to us that it might be time to try big boy underwear again.  So, we took a deep breath, sent him in the underwear, and hoped for the best.  And whaddya know, he was doing great!  Of course, accidents happened here and there, but overall, especially compared to how the first trial run went, he was actually doing it.  So we started with diapers at nap time and bedtime only, and after about a week, moved to diapers at nighttime only.  


We tried lots of different things this time, learning from our first failed experience.  We let him doing it standing up, like Chad (which he loves to do anything like him).  :)  We threw some Cheerios in the toilet, to help with aim, since it can be frustrating to have pee all over your bathroom floor everyday (especially for people like me, who are bare foot most of the time).  And we went out and got him the coolest monster truck, Mickey Mouse, and race car underwear we could find.  Everything was going pretty smoothly... 


The only major issue we were having was "number twos".  He just wasn't getting the concept of going to the bathroom for that.  Not sure why.. because I'm pretty sure I wouldn't want to walk around with that in my pants for the day. Plus, the school was just tossing the underwear when there was an accident, which wasn't turning out to be very friendly on our bank account.  


Friday night was a rough one.  He peed in his pants because he didn't want to pause his movie (that he watches religiously everyday) and then dropped a lovely present for us in his new underwear, so frustrations were high.  We calmly tried talking with him that night (which we have done every time) explaining to him why he needed to use the potty.  Of course Chad and I walked away from the conversation with our 3 year old thinking nothing had changed and we had just taken a major step back.  We put him to bed, cracked a beer and hoped for a miracle for the rest of the weekend.  


Then came Saturday morning.  He went into the bathroom on his own to pee.  Chad and I sat there smiling, so thankful that he had taken that upon himself to go, when a shout comes from the bathroom "I POOPED IN THE POTTY!!!".  We both kind of sat there puzzled for a minute, is he bluffing?  (Which he has done before in an effort to get candy - like I said, the kids pretty smart).  So I got up to go check out the situation and low and behold.. he did it!!!  He actually went all by himself!!!  


You would have thought we just won the lottery with how we all oooh'ed and aaah'ed over him and the toilet.  But apparently that's the reaction he needed because the rest of the weekend, we would hear that random shout from the bathroom, and we would both go running.  You could tell he felt like a rock star when we would give him the praise.  Which is always a cool feeling, because you know he is proud of himself.  


So this morning off to school he went.  With great news to report to his teachers.  My fingers are crossed that diaper days are far behind us.  And "number two" accidents (for the most part) are as well.  


I guess he just needed a little time, and a little more encouragement from us, to get the bowl flushing.  :)