Big Stuff

 

We're Potty Training!

Prior to yesterday, Hugh had been completely uninterested in the potty. He would sit on it (clothes on) every now and then, but wouldn't sit with clothes off, and if you asked him if he wanted to go potty, he'd say no.

I'm not sure what happened to cause the readiness, but out of nowhere, when we got home from the splash pad yesterday, I asked him if he wanted to go pee pee on the potty, as I was taking his wet swim clothes off him. He said yes, and sat right on the potty. He didn't go right away, so I left him sitting there while I gathered up wet clothes and towels. 

All of a sudden, Gus started shouting, "He's going pee pee!" and when I came to look, sure enough, there was pee pee in the little potty! I was SO EXCITED!!! Of course, Gus and I made a HUGE deal out of it and we were screaming, clapping, hooting, and hollerin' and Hugh was just beaming with pride.

To make it even sweeter, before he went to bed last night, he went pee pee on the potty so Steve could see it. He went again tonight before bed and I am so proud of him. 

I know it's not a guarantee that he's ready for full-on training, it's definitely good stuff. He'll be going to Tu/Th preschool starting in September and we've got pullups for him to wear to school. I know when he sees other kids going, he'll just be even more interested and willing to go. 

It's bittersweet. Don't get me wrong, I'm ready to be done with diapers... but it makes me a little sad to know he's growing up and already starting to do big stuff like this. 

Fully Potty Trained

We weren't going to attempt night-time potty-training for a few more weeks, but we ran out of night-time diapers, and I decided we'd just see how it goes. I told Gus that if he woke up and needed to go potty, he could just go right into the bathroom and there'd be a light on in there for him (a night-light). I told him that the first thing that he needed to do when waking up was to go potty. He agreed.

This was all last week, and we haven't had one accident yet (knock on wood). He's been going potty in the middle of the night, and goes first thing in the morning. It's like his body was just ready for all this and it all finally clicked.

It's pretty awesome to not have to buy diapers for him anymore. It's a big thing to be fully potty trained, and I'm thankful that he was able to do it on his terms, and do it when he was ready. There were a lot of times when we tried and it wasn't time, and I'm glad we gave it a break and backed off until he was ready.

Hugh has been showing interest in the potty, but isn't able to tell us that he has to go, and can't pull his pants down on his own yet. So for now, we just celebrate when he'll sit on the potty, and I'm patient and know that when he's really ready, it'll all come together and will be awesome. Just like it has been with Gus.

I'm so proud of him.

Potty Training

I've heard people say, "When a child's ready to potty train, it'll be easy." We have been in the potty training mode for well over a year now. Probably close to two years to be honest. Gus was about to turn two when we started the process of becoming familiar with the potty.

I followed all the recommendations, getting a potty for them to sit on, taking them potty when you go, lots of praise if they sit on the potty. We were doing well with everything and Gus was occasionally going pee-pee on the little potty. He was in a diaper and would take the diaper off for a change and we'd stick him on the potty.

While he was at CtK for preschool, they'd have "potty parties" and all the kids would go together to the bathroom and they'd see how it's done. It sounded odd at first, but seeing his friends go potty on the big potty was a motivator for Gus. So about this time last year, we started buying Pull-Ups.

Now, don't let anyone tell you that a Pull-Up isn't a diaper. It is. It's just easier to pull up and down like undies. However, they can pee and poo in one, and it will absorb like a diaper does. A Pull-Up does NOT hold as much urine as a regular diaper does, but it still contains it, unlike undies that don't hold it at all.

We've been in Pull-Ups for a while and Gus has progressively gotten better and better with going pee-pee on the potty. We got him a Potty Time watch, started doing rewards for each pee, but at some point, there has to be individual accountability.

That's the key with potty training. Sure, he can depend on a watch to tell him to go, but he really needs to be listening to his body and when he feels the need to go, that's when he should be recognizing the need to find a potty. Until your child can associate the feeling of needing to go, hold it, and verbalize that they have to go, it's going to be all on mom and dad to get the train rolling.

And you can't really say your child is potty trained if YOU are the one doing all the work, now can you?

Gus has been pee-trained for about eight months. Right when he started school he started getting the hang of it, and would tell us that he had to go pee-pee. Sometimes the Pull-Up would be wet already, but the more time went on, the drier and drier it got.

We were done with daytime diapers (actual size 6 diapers) back in December. We've had some back and forth regression with potty training, but as he's gotten older, once we turned from diapers in the day, he's been only wearing Pull-Ups and refuses to wear a diaper in the day.

However... it's the pooping that's been a problem. For whatever reason, pooping on the potty was not going to happen. He'd poop in his Pull-Up or if he was without pants, he'd ask for a Pull Up, then he'd poop.

This was an on-going frustration for MONTHS. I bought a potty chart to keep track of his pees and poos and it was a great motivator. He loved it. We got one of the new Thomas friends and taped it to the bathroom door and he knew that once he pooped on the potty, he'd get his train. 

He wanted that train desperately. However, he wasn't willing to poop on the potty to get it. He'd poop in his Pull Up and say, "No train today!" 

During Spring Break, he was running around the house naked for the most part. The recognizing the need to pee was definitely there and he'd announce that he needed to go potty. However, pooping wasn't happening.

I went to a retreat at church on April 13th and while I was gone, Steve was watching the boys. Gus was without pants and undies and had told Steve that he needed a diaper. Steve (so smart) said, "If you need to poop, go get on the potty." Gus said, "Oh, okay, Daddy."

However, he didn't go on the potty. He continued to play and then after a few more minutes, he said, "Daddy I need a diaper." Steve told him that if he needed to poop, he had to go get on the potty and poop there. Gus said, "Oh, okay, Daddy."

Then Gus rushed into the bathroom and a few minutes later, he was super excited and said, "Daddy, look! There's poop in the potty!!" Steve went in and looked, and sure enough, there was poop in the potty! He finally did it!!

Right after my retreat, I went to Kroger and while shopping, I got this picture from Steve via text:

 
I bought some of Gus's favorite two-bite strawberry cupcakes and came home and we all celebrated. We weren't sure if it was a one time thing, but he's now going poop on a daily basis on the potty. 


What's even more impressive is that this weekend, he was playing and we were doing our own thing and he came out of our bedroom and excitedly announced to come see the poop in the potty. When we went, his shorts were on the floor in front of the toilet and there was poop in the potty. He had just gone all by himself without any prompting from us. It was glorious.


Gus is now wearing undies each day. He wears a special night-time pull up to bed, but the last few nights it's been dry, so we may be moving to undies at night too. He wears undies to school (we were wearing undies then a Pull Up on top of the undies) and now it's just straight undies.


I can't even explain how proud of him that I am. I had hoped and prayed that he'd be daytime potty trained by the time he was four. Most boys aren't potty trained until sometime in their third year. With Gus, it's been hard because of his speech and language delays, that he couldn't verbalize his need to go. He's now a rock star and we're gearing up for nighttime training.

Just as we're getting one finished, it's almost time to start working with Hugh on potty training. He watches Gus go and claps when Gus pees on the potty. I'm hoping that with having an older brother to watch, Hugh will be easier to train. 

The one thing that I do know is that when your child IS actually ready, it's easy. Until they're totally ready, it's going to be difficult and painful at times. 

Here are the 10 signs of potty training readiness:
1) Stays dry for hours at a time
2) Awareness of when he or she is going (sometimes kids hide when they're going to the bathroom in a diaper)
3) Knows words for going
4) Knows the difference between wet and dry
5) Shows interest in others' bathroom habits
6) Wants diaper changed when it is wet or dirty
7) Can pull pants up and down
8) Can sit on toilet or potty chair for long enough to go (2-5 minutes)
9) Wants to try potty training (adamantly opposed to training will be incredibly hard)
10) You, the parent, are ready (it's a lot of work and you have to be willing to spend the time and energy)

I'm so proud of Gus and so happy that I can say he was potty trained before he turned four.  :D

"This Is A Very Big Day!"

 Gus loves the movie Tangled  :-)

In the words of our favorite golden haired princess, today was a very big day! So many great things happened and two very big firsts for Hugh!!

We are on day four of potty training and so far, so good. Each day, we've had one accident (usually around pooping in his undies). Today he just couldn't hold his pee anymore more and he ended up peeing all the way up the hall to the bathroom and then peed on the potty. He must have had an insane amount of liquid within the hour.

Speaking of hours, we've moved from going every 30 minutes to every 60 minutes!! Gus has done really well with this and has become trained to go potty when his watch goes off. Not sure if this is a good thing or not. LOL

We were supposed to go to the park with some MOMS Club friends, but I decided it would be wiser to stay home, so we're close to the potty. It was a pretty laid-back morning and we enjoyed having nothing to do.

The last few days, Hugh has been showing more and more signs on wanting to sit up on his own.

 

Propping himself up in the rock and play sleeper

 

Sitting forward in the swing

Yesterday, I decided to see if he could sit up by himself for a bit, and he was able to sit for a few minutes before toppling over. When I moved him against the couch, he was perfect and it gave him just the right amount of support. Hugh was in heaven with playing on the floor with Gus.

 

You're saying to yourself, "My goodness, he's such a cute baby!"

So today, we decided to sit on the floor again and he had more fun. 

This afternoon, he went from laying down to sitting up again. He's unreal!!

I decided that today would be a great day to try some solid foods with Hugh. He's 24 weeks (five and a half months) and I thought it couldn't hurt to try. I opened up some carrots and decided to see what he thought.

He wasn't too sure what to think. He made such funny faces it looked like he hated it, but he kept opening his mouth for more, so it couldn't have been too terrible!!

So not only did Hugh try solids for the first time, but tonight, he went to bed in his crib (in his room) for the first time. Fingers crossed that he sleeps well being in his own room. We wanted to wait until he was six months, but he's getting too heavy for the pack and play (I'm guessing he's over 20 pounds) and his room is quieter. He does well with noise, but I think sleeping in his own room will be a good thing and now is the time to do it.

Anyway, it was a big day for us!!! Tomorrow we have soccer, and Gus will be going without diapers to soccer. I've got a change of clothes in case he needs it, but we'll be experiencing our first weekend without diapers!!

As hard as potty training seems at times, it's been so wonderful to not have to change Gus's diapers!!! He's such a big boy!!!

Potty Training 101

 

Every thirty minutes

Recently, Gus has been showing more and more signs of being ready to start potty training. His end of the year evaluation by his preschool teacher said that he was showing interest and on his way to being fully ready. The other day, he initiated going potty and I was astounded that he was able to connect the internal feeling to actually needing to use the potty.

I guess I was being a bit selfish by looking at our schedule and seeing that there's too much going on to start potty training. This is the first week where we don't really have to be anywhere, and we will have five days straight without really having to go anywhere and to worry about PT while being out and about. With the exception of swimming tomorrow, we have the luxury of staying home all week until soccer on Saturday morning.

Last night Steve commented that we are in need of diapers. I asked if we could go Saturday after soccer and he said he wasn't sure if we'd make it to Saturday. Well, that was the kick in the butt that I needed, so this morning, we started potty training.

I had bought Gus a potty watch when he was like 18 months old (click the link to see it in action). I got it and kept it on his bookshelf so that when the time came, it'd be there for us. Today was that special day.

When Gus woke up, I took him to the bathroom to try and go potty before getting him dressed (something I've been doing for about a week now). He went on the potty and I made a huge deal about it. I told him that I had a special gift for him and he was very excited to see it.

He let me put it on him after I had set it for every 30 minutes (it lets you pick 30, 60, and 90 minutes). 
We then put on his very special undies with Mater on them. Because we're training, I let him hang out all day in his undies and he was okay with that.

 
He was really excited to see how it worked and when it went off for the first time he flipped out!!! He was so excited to go potty and ran up the hall to the bathroom!

Every thirty minutes we went to the bathroom, and every thirty minutes he went on the potty. It was amazing. We only had one accident and he started to go potty and then we caught it and rushed to the potty to finish. Other than that, he had no accidents and loved going when his watch alerted him!!

He didn't take a nap today and I was okay with that. We went all day without going poop... which I was surprised he didn't go poop around his usual time of 2-3pm. Maybe tomorrow he'll go. I hope he's not afraid to go on the potty.

Around 4ish, he decided that he wanted to wear three pairs of undies at once. He grabbed all the spare undies that I had brought down with me, and put them all on.

 

 I used M&M Minis to help today:

But I realized that there are a few things that we need in order to make it more comfortable and successful for Gus. So tonight I went on Amazon and got a few more potty-related items.

 

This is called a Piddle Pad. I got it for potty training, but also for going to/coming from swimming

 

A soft seat for our bathroom that he's been using and a stool. I realized while watching today, that the seat is not comfy for him and he doesn't really like to sit on it long (which doesn't help when he has to poop) and then the stool will be helpful for him to rest his legs while on the potty and to get onto the potty

 

Travel Potty :: I am most excited about this purchase. It uses gallon bags and it folds up to stay in the car. This will be great for when we're at the park and there's not a close bathroom (happens all the time), when we travel to Michigan and Indiana and have long car rides... and it'll be good to just keep in the car for emergencies

Overall, I am so very proud of Gus for all that he did today. Getting up every thirty minutes wasn't enjoyable, but seeing him actually use the potty and not have to change a single diaper for him today was incredible. Now we just need to get through tomorrow... swimming in the morning and a poop for sure at some time (either in his undies or on the potty). Wish us luck!!