Don't worry, I won't be sharing photos with you over the next few days! I've been really, really torn about starting to potty train Owen. Part of me wanted to do it now so that he has a good month under his belt before he starts at a new daycare with a lot more kids. Ronda will have more time to spend one-on-one than Heidi will be able to. But I also just wasn't totally convinced that he was ready yet. He doesn't seem to mind being wet and dirty, but he will pee pretty much every single time we put him on the potty. I heard about a program called the 3 Day Potty Training Program and decided to read the book. It makes a lot of sense, but there are some parts of it that I was not convinced about. Since it will be predominantly me doing it, I wanted to feel really comfortable with the program that I chose.
The premise of the book is that you take a day off of work and spend 3 full, uninterrupted days following your child around, reminding them to tell you if they feel like they have to pee or poop. You put them in underwear and physically have the child pack up ALL diapers in a garbage bag and throw them out so you won't be tempted to revert back when you or the child get frustrated. (Diapers aren't cheap, so we bagged them up and when O wasn't looking, I threw them into the guest bedroom so I can put the in the closet later!) You also give them a lot of liquids so that they have to pee more and get more practice. You aren't supposed to ask them if they have to go, simply remind them over and over and over again to tell you if they have to go. This puts the control in their hands and eliminates power struggles. The first day is supposed to be rough, but the author swears that if you follow her method to a T, the child should pretty much be trained in 3 days. I did a lot of prepping (you have to have all of your meals prepared in advance because you literally can't take your eyes off the child - no phone, no TV, no internet - just you and your child. This helps you catch each and every "accident" and get them to the potty.
Owen got up and ate breakfast, then we headed upstairs with a garbage bag to do "a very important job." We read a book called "Duck Goes Potty" because Duck's mommy tells him in the book that he is a big duck now and doesn't need diapers anymore. I told O that he was a big boy now and he was going to stop wearing diapers and start wearing big boy undies. He the drank a cup and a half of water with a splash of juice and I showed him a sticker chart and a treasure chest filled with prizes for when he goes on the potty. We talked about poop and pee going in the potty and not in our big boy undies and how we have to keep them dry. Then the peeing began. He had several accidents right away, which I was fully expecting. I quickly scooped him up and ran to the bathroom and put him on the toilet to finish. This is supposed to help them realize where they are supposed to go potty. I tried really hard to think of each accident as a teaching moment and that made cleaning them all up a lot easier! Thank goodness for foam floor squares! They are so much easier to clean than carpet! He realizes right away when he is peeing and looks down and says, "Uh-oh." I learned a lot of things too, like having a paper towel in the hallway outside the bathroom door so that I have a place to put the wet undies while helping him on the potty, and having a stack of undies in the bathroom for easy access.
After about an hour, he started to say, "Hurry Mommy!" and he'd run for the bathroom. We got to put on the same pair of undies several times in a row because they were completely dry and all the pee went into the potty. He had a good run of about 6 or 7 times that he told him and didn't wet his pants. Then we reverted back to wetting pants....I did a load of 17 wet and dirty pairs of undies. Thank goodness I've been stocking up on them so I'd have plenty for home and daycare. It was nap time and even though my gut tells me to use pull-ups, the book says not to because it confuses them and just gives them a free pass to go in their pants and not even feel it because it gets wicked away. I talked to Paul a lot about it and finally decided that since I was doing the program and taking the time off of work, I was going to do it the way she suggests. If that doesn't work, we can always change to make it work for us. I checked him a few times during nap and he stayed dry for over an hour, but then woke up crying because he wet the bed. I was grateful that I had thought ahead and layered his sheets and waterproof pads so that I just had to peel off the top wet ones and he was set to go back to sleep as soon as I changed him. He slept for another two hours and woke crying because he had wet again.
I gave him a snack and a cup of milk and decided not to push the liquids too much after nap since it was so late. He had several more accidents, then stayed dry through dinner. I gave him a bath and then we read some books and went potty two more times. Now the next step is to wake him in a few minutes (an hour after he's gone to sleep) so that he can try again. Then we were supposed to wake him an hour before he normally gets up to have him go again. (These steps are only for kids who don't wake up dry in their diapers.) Owen has always drank a lot and never wakes up dry - ever. So, I guess we are waking him up. This is the other thing that I was really leery about. He's just finally getting back to a really good sleeping schedule and to wake him and get him up, or telling him that he can call out and we'll help him get up may undo all the work we've done these past few months to keep him from getting out of bed a hundred times a night. We'll see I guess...
Cross your fingers that things start to click for him even more on Day 2!
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