I guess it's fair to say that I generally don't do things in moderation. The 3-Day Potty Training method appealed because it's a nice, clean (I don't mean that it isn't messy though!) transition from diapers to underpants. I decided to begin potty training my son today and I had him help me pack up cloth diapers and "throw away" disposable diapers. Once I changed him out of his last diaper, I put him in underpants and that was that. I even put him down for his nap sans diaper and I put him to bed tonight without a diaper. Yeah, I told you I was hardcore - haha!
Why did I decide to start potty training today? Mainly because I had a three-day window of time, he's nearly two years old, and he seems somewhat interested. By interested, I don't mean that he takes any initiative at all in going to the toilet by himself. I mean that he will bring me a diaper if he is dirty, he will pee-pee on his potty chair first thing in the morning, and he's fond of yelling that he has gone "Poo-POOO!!" Of course, "poo-poo" seems to be his favorite word and he's fond of saying it anytime he can't come up with something else to say. . .my boy is quite the conversationalist!
I made a big deal out of his big boy underpants (four pair had Elmo!) and explained that big boys keep their underpants clean and dry by running to the bathroom whenever they need to go potty. I often asked him if he needed to go potty throughout the day. I plied him with juice (something he nearly never gets), milk, water, fruit, beans, cereal, & veggies because I wanted him to have plenty of opportunities to go potty.
Prior to his nap, he peed in the potty twice and he had six accidents on the floor. I caught him as each accident happened and had him sit on the potty to finish peeing. I gave him lots of love, encouragement, understanding, and patience. I made sure to tell him that I'm proud of him and that everyone has accidents when they're learning about the potty. As per the 3-Day Potty Training guidelines, there was no television today, but lots of hugs and cuddles. My Secret Mommy dropped off some surprises for me and an Elmo puzzle and Elmo stickers that my son could color. We had great fun coloring together today.
I hustled him to the potty when he woke from his 2-hour nap. He was dry, by the way, when he woke up! He was too shy to pee right away, so he stood up to pull up his underpants (he can sort of do it by himself) and began to pee on the floor. I guided him back down to the potty chair and he finished up there.
I'm puzzled that he is not interested at all in his special toddler urinal. The Peter Potty stands, lonely and unused, in our hall bathroom. But I like focusing on the positive. He peed three times on the potty chair today. He sat on the toilet ring on the big toilet, even though he didn't actually use it. I'm very impressed that he remained dry for nearly 4 1/2 hours today!! Tomorrow may be a messy, pee-soaked day, but I think today went pretty darn well!
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The day isn't quite over yet. . .we still need to get through the night. My son typically sleeps a minimum of twelve hours each night and he wakes with a super-heavy diaper. I was seriously tempted to put him in a disposable pull-up diaper, but I wondered if that would be sending a mixed message. I thought about just putting him down wearing his underpants, but I chickened out and put him in his underpants with a Gerber plastic pull-up style diaper cover. He's never worn that type of diaper cover, so I figured that he wouldn't make the connection that they are for covering cloth diapers.
I let him know that he can call me any time during the night if he has to go potty and he called for me about an hour after he went to bed. I hurried to his side and put him on his potty chair, but he wouldn't go. I asked if he was testing to see if Mama would come to take him to the potty and he said, "yes," so I pulled up his underpants and put him back in his pajama pants. I told him he was a good boy for calling Mama to take him to the potty and he can call for me any time no matter what. We'll see what the rest of the evening holds. . .wish us luck!
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