The Potty Diaries (Part 3)

In case you missed it :: Part 1 and Part 2 and Potty Training in 1 Day

Disclaimer :: these posts will be long and detailed. It won't hurt my feelings if you have no interest in reading these details.

Well, the last line in my previous post was “Take it from me, it can be done!”…oh boy, oh boy. Let’s recap. Day 1 – totally stressed and ready to give up. Day 2 – took a break from all the juice, but stayed in undies until early evening and went potty when needed. Day 3 – a picture perfect day, wondered if I had a miracle child. Days 4 and 5 – had one accident each day, but no biggie…cleaned them up and kept going, dry the remainder of the day.

Day 6 – Sunday – went to church in underwear, picked him up and he was still dry! Yay! However…the teacher said he refused to potty for her. So I tried to take him, but he refused for me, too. Since we were headed to MeMe and Big Daddy’s house for the afternoon, I asked if he wanted to potty or put on a diaper. He chose the diaper. He refused to potty and wore a diaper the rest of the day. I felt like I had failed, but I chose to focus on tomorrow being another day. We’d start again.

Day 7 – Monday – we got up with the full intentions of wearing undies, staying home, and pottying all day long. By 10 a.m. he had made the conscious choice twice to tee tee on the floor instead of the potty. (And I say conscious choice because he would say he needed to tee tee, then get on the potty, refuse to go and cry and get off, then 5 minutes later would pee on the floor. Sure, that was probably my fault for not forcing him to stay on the pot, but with everything I’ve read, I felt it was more appropriate to let him lead and not force the issue…I don’t want to traumatize him over the toilet!)

But after the 2^nd accident, I gave him the choice of diaper or potty. He chose diaper. I decided at that point that we would wait 3-4 weeks before trying this again. He’s obviously not ready. And since I can’t actively control his bladder, I’m not gonna continue this battle of wills, because in this scenario, he’ll win every time.

THEN – after I’d decided to give up – THEN – when it was time to take a bath – THEN he decides he wants to tee tee on the potty. I asked if he was sure. I had a feeling it was a stall tactic (amazing how they figure those out at 2!) Alas, I took his diaper off and set him on the potty. He wanted to read and play with books, so we did…this was the longest he’d sat for 2 days. After about 5 minutes, he pooped!!! YAY!! And tee teed! Double YAY!!!

And after bath and struggling with bedtime for about 30 minutes (thanks to a 3 ½ hour nap), he says he needs to tee tee again. Stall tactic? Surely it was. But nope! He did it again, immediately after sitting down!!!

So now. I’m totally at a loss for what to do. Is he ready or not? Do I keep trying or not? Diapers or underwear? What to do, what to do? Any advice from moms who’ve been there would be greatly appreciated!!!

The Potty Diaries (Part 2)

In case you missed it :: Part 1 -or want to skip ahead- Part 3 and Potty Training in 1 Day

Disclaimer :: these posts will be long and detailed. It won't hurt my feelings if you have no interest in reading these details.

 
Well it’s day 4 of potty training, and boy am I glad I wrote all that the first day! It passes so quickly, even though at the time I thought this venture would never work and was taking FOR.E.VER!

The afternoon of the first day, when Carson awoke from nap, we went straight back to the potty. I made him sit there for pretty much the rest of the day. After he would tee tee, he got about a 10-minute break, lots more juice, and then we headed back for the pot. Thankfully my best friend Paige brought her kids over that afternoon to play. That wasn’t in my original plan, but she told me that with her 1^st son (the middle child, Maddox), he decided he was done with diapers after he saw his cousin tee tee on the potty. And he never looked back! So we decided to give that a try…plus it would give mommy some encouragement and a mental break!

We played outside between potty sittings and Carson had a wonderful time. I know he welcomed the break as much as I did. Daddy was home from playing golf at this point too, and he made us dinner. It was yummy, but Carson didn’t eat much since he had been snacking and eating his potty treats all day long. After dinner, daddy gave me a break and sat in there with him for an hour, thus ending day 1. We had a bath and put on a diaper for bed. (After much deliberation and prayer, I decided that nighttime would require diapers for a little bit longer until we really got the hang of this potty deal.)

Oh! And by the way, he slept for 2 ½ hours at nap with no diaper and woke up DRY!! J That made momma happy. And here’s what I did for nap. First off, I made sure the washer was clear and ready for anything that may need to be washed. Of course he laid down right after going potty. And I laid puppy potty pads under his top sheet (so he wouldn’t see them) and tucked it in since he doesn’t use it anyway. That way if he did tee tee, I could pick those up and he still had the fitted sheet to lie on. On the first day we went through too many Lysol wipes to count, and about 6 pair of Thomas undies!

Day 2, I was exhausted and unsure if I’d be able to go through all of that again for another day. My hiney was so sore from sitting on a tiny hard stool all day the day before. Thankfully 2 things happened :: Marc had stayed up the entire night before and cleaned the house and washed, dried, folded, and put away every stitch of laundry in the house, and my friend Samantha called and wanted to get her boys out of the house and go to the park. We needed to let Marc sleep anyway, so we met up at the park at 10 a.m. to play. I took him in undies and a change of clothes (and shoes because if they tee tee, it’s gonna go into their shoes.) Carson did so well and didn’t tee tee at all…unfortunately the day called for rain so we couldn’t stay too long. But the short break was awesome and when we got home, Carson and I took a quick shower and then both laid down for nap.

He woke up dry from another 2 ½ hour nap, and we celebrated by sitting on the potty until he went. Since I wasn’t pumping him with as much juice, we didn’t stay on the potty quite as much day 2. Even still, by about 5 p.m. he was absolutely done with the potty. I thought it was over. I felt disappointed and discouraged. I try really hard not to allow Carson to “call the shots”, but every parent knows his or her child and knows when enough is enough. I made that call and put him in a diaper at 5, and we sat down and watched a movie together. Then we headed for bed. I will say that before he went to the diaper, he stayed in the same pair of red choo choo undies for all of day 2! Yay!!

Day 3 – I wasn’t sure what would happen. I decided to just put on his underwear again and see where it went. Y’all…all day, unprompted, he told me when he needed to tee tee!! He didn’t have any accidents!! We even went and had dinner with my brother’s family, and he tee teed on the potty over there too! My boy has gotten it! It has clicked!! I’m SO SO SO VERY PROUD OF HIM!!! And it was not my doing, he just got it! Right when I was about ready to throw in the towel, my boy is potty trained! Yipee!!! I won’t have 2 in diapers!!! Yay!!!!

I really can’t even begin to express to you how thankful I am that this worked. I’m grateful for this post :: Potty Training in 1 Day :: for giving me the best idea ever!

I’m not naive enough to think it’s over, but I’m super thankful that it has “clicked” for Carson and he actually gets it. It was literally 2 months ago that my sweet little baby was in a crib and diapers, and not saying more than 10 or so words. Hard to believe that so much development has occurred for him in this 2 month time period…he’s now saying anything and everything I say AND sleeping in a big boy bed AND going potty! Take it from me, it CAN be done. Praise Jesus!!

The Potty Diaries (Part 1)

Disclaimer :: these posts will be long and detailed. It won't hurt my feelings if you have no interest in reading these details.

May 1, 2012 I decided would be the last day of diapers for Carson. Oh my, what was I thinking??? He’s 2 years and 2 months old. And his baby sister will be here in approximately 12 ½ weeks. I don’t want 2 in diapers, do I? All his friends are potty trained, aren’t they? If I wait, won’t he fall behind? Now that he’s talking, sleeping in a big boy bed, expressing his wants and needs, surely he’s ready, right?

It’s naptime on day 1. So far I have gone through countless Lysol wipes on and around the toilet bowl, Lysol floor cloths all over the house, and wet wipes for Carson. He has had 5 accidents…3 of which occurred before 9:30!! The other 2 were actually half accidents, because I caught him in the act and yelled “STOP!” and rushed him off to the potty where he finished.

We’ll start from the beginning.

I read this blog :: Potty Training in 1 Day. Last night, I went to Walmart to stock up on junk food, candy, chips, and lots of juice and fun drinks. I got Capri sun, chocolate milk, and apple juice for my son who usually only gets water and milk. I also got him cheese curls, twix, turtle chex mix, dill pickle chips, and so much more. These snacks had one purpose – to make him thirsty. And boy did it work!! I even let him have some of my cherry coke at one point. 

Since we would be eating junk all day, we started off the day with some fruit and multi-grain cheerios. Then we went into his bedroom where he threw all of his diapers away. We took off his last diaper and gave it to daddy to chunk! He had 17 new big boy underwear to choose from, with assortments including Thomas the train and Disney’s Cars. Of course he chose the choo choo ones. We put those on and headed straight for the potty (wondering why we had just put undies on to turn around and take them right off!) 

 Carson sat on the potty with some juice for a very short period and then wanted off. I let him get down, set the timer, and we decided to play. We got his mega blocks and camped out in the hallway right in front of the potty. About 10 minutes before the alarm went off (it had only been set for 20), he walked around to the other side of the blocks, squatted, and peed. Then he looked at me and said, “Help, mom!” It was so cute…how could I get upset? So I said, “Uh Oh!” and cleaned him and the floor up. 

We picked out another pair of undies, reset the timer for 20 (I thought surely it would be at least 20 more minutes before he was ready to tee tee again), and then got his puppy dog All Star to sit and tee tee on the potty. I used a medicine dropper loaded with water to make him go. Then All Star got a treat for being such a good dog! Carson seemed so excited. Before we got started, I had let him sample a treat so he would see just how good they were and what he would be working for :: skittles and jelly beans. Yum yum!!

We decided to color for a minute until the timer went off. I was grabbing the paper when I remembered to grab my phone from the bathroom so we would hear it. In the 5 seconds it took me to get to the bathroom for the phone, he had peed again!!! Heard the same little “Help mom!” from the bathroom. You have GOT TO BE kidding me!!! This time it was in the chair and splashed all over the floor.

Third pair of underwear for the day. Good thing I got 17! This time was no joke. He was GOING to pee on the potty. So we gathered all our drinks and headed for the bathroom. I sat him on the pot, determined that he not move until he peed. Afterall, he just went twice in a 30 minute time frame. So we sat. And we played games. And we counted. And we sang. After about 30 minutes, he asked to get down. I decided to give him a 5 minute break. I figured his butt had to be asleep if mine was.

Seriously folks, not a minute into this timed 5 minute break (this is not an exaggeration!) he was playing with his truck when I saw him squat and begin to pee again. That’s when I yelled “STOP!” and grabbed him and headed for the pot. I tried to snatch his undies off, threw him on the potty and made him finish there. There wasn’t much left. Most of it was on the floor. L I felt so defeated. Looked at the clock and it was only 9:20.

At this point in the morning I was about ready to throw in the towel. Maybe he’s too young. Maybe he just doesn’t get it. It’s not like he’s gonna go to kindergarten in diapers or pull ups. He’s only 2 years and 2 months, maybe he needs more time. All these thoughts were racing through my head as I was trying to stay pumped and motivated for my man. Tears were flowing down while I was trying to fake smiles and encourage my boy. He could see straight through me and kept asking with such concern, “oh-tay mom?” The sweetest boy ever, that Carson.

Immediately after cleaning up his third mess, I decided there was no more playing off the pot. I put him back on, and we camped there for the next hour. At approximately 10:40 a.m. we had success…MAJOR success! Numbers 1 AND 2! Yippeee!! This momma did the potty dance all over the house. And so did Carson. We flushed, washed our hands, and we both got a treat!! I was stoked! And this deserved a much needed break from the potty!

Over the next 2 hours, we had 2 more full successes and 2 more ½ successes. We also had lunch, cut way back on the juice intake, and prepped for nap. I laid puppy potty pads under his sheet so he wouldn’t see them and then laid him in the bed in his undies. We’ll see…I’m fully expecting an accident, and I’m okay with that. And if it doesn’t happen, I’ll be more than thrilled! As much as I don’t wanna, I’m forgoing my nap to shower and write this and be fully there when he wakes up to rush him in to potty if need be. Guess I’ll write again later about the afternoon.

Chapstick Obsession

Those who know me know that I have a major obsession with chapstick. Not just any chapstick, Burt's Bees. I don't leave home without it...and if by chance I do, I stop and buy some more. I keep at least 5 sticks at a time - one for my purse, one for the diaper bag, one beside my bed, one in the living room, and the last one is a floater. Always gotta have a floater. Cause sometimes,

:: this happens ::

Yep, that bad boy floater got left in a pair of shorts and run through the washer and dryer. It never stood a chance. 

But never fear, because I have one of these ::

This little gem was given to me in a Burt's Bees gift set several years ago from my best friend Paige. Does she know me, or what? There were 4 or 5 sticks and this little handy dandy tin of balm in the gift set. Once all the balm ran out, I saved the tin to remind myself to buy another one of those because I really love having that at my bedside at night. Not sure why I prefer the tin at night and the stick by day, but I do. Go figure. 

Back to the point, one day the dryer mishap (or perhaps chapstick was left in a sweltering car or on top of the toaster oven, whatever the case may be) ruined a completely good tube of chapstick.  So this is what I did ::

And I've been doing that ever since. Pre-tin days would have ended in tears upon the discovery of a ruined stick of Burt's Bees. (Seriously folks, I told you I was obsessed...plus, that junk ain't cheap!) But now, I don't fret over it for one minute. I simply use a toothpick to transfer the balm from one place to the other. 

If you're REALLY crafty, you could set this tin of balm on top of the toaster oven (mine gets really hot and would melt it) or in a steamy hot car on a summer day to let the lip balm melt again and smooth out. I just let my finger do the trick. But please don't put it in the microwave!

Now go forth and save your chapstick from immanent peril! Just kidding. But do keep this trick in your back pocket for your next chapstick blunder. Happens to me all the time!