Carter turns 2 1/2 this month and with Baby on the way, I had decided to try potty training him this summer. Over the past few weeks, I've been reading articles and talking to other parents to get some advice on how exactly to go about this. I know that there is no miracle age for when kids are ready, and I know that if they aren't interested in going potty on the big boy potty, then it's just not going to happen. So I started this with a pretty good attitude - if it works, great! If not, then we'll just try again in a few months. I don't want to push Carter to do something that he's just not ready to do.
Here is my plan... No pull-ups and no more diapers, except for nap-time and night-time. Other than that, I'm just going to put him in big-boy undies. We're going to set a timer every 15 minutes. When the timer goes off, we go sit on the potty and see what happens. If Carter goes at all, he'll get a Mike & Ike or two. And for the first week or so, we are not leaving the house. This is going to be the hardest part for me, since I am constantly on the go. If he wets his pants, I'm not going to get upset at all and just remind him that he needs to go on the potty next time.
On Sunday we made a family trip to Target and let Carter pick out some big boy undies. We already had some Lightning McQueen ones from his birthday, so he picked out Thomas the Train, Super Why and Toy Story. Good choice! We also let him pick out some candy and told him that he will get some candy every time he goes in the potty. We borrowed a little potty from my parents and put their's upstairs and our little potty downstairs. And we were set.
Monday morning started a little slow. I needed to get groceries and since I had a "no leaving the house" rule, I decided to not officially start the training until we got home. Carter cried when I took off his diaper. I think we'd been talking about the big boy undies so much that he was a little nervous about them. After 15 minutes, I took him to the potty. Nothing. Not a drip or anything. 15 minutes later, I took him in again. Again, nothing. So we waited another 15 minutes. This time, when I helped him pull his pants down, I noticed that they were wet. AND HE DIDN'T CARE! There went my theory. I thought he would hate to be wet. So we tried again on the potty, but of course, since he had just gone in his pants, he didn't have to go anymore. He did squeeze out a little toot, which earned him one Mike & Ike. We ate lunch and tried again. Nothing. Then a short time later, I was in the other room and Carter yelled "Mommy, come see this. I not know what it is." I walked into the living room to find 5 or so little turds in the middle of the carpet. Carter was inspecting them like they were little bugs or something. I pulled down his pants and realized that he'd gone #2, which apparently undies do not contain very well. So we got him all cleaned up, put him on the potty again, and of course, nothing happened. By this time, it was almost 2:00 and we had spent the majority of the day in the bathroom with zero success. I put a diaper back on him and put him down for his nap. And I napped too. :)
When he woke up, surprisingly, he wasn't upset when I took off his diaper and put on another pair of undies. I sat him on the potty and - voila - he peed! Cary walked in the door right then and helped us celebrate with some Mike & Ikes, lots of jumping up and down and several hugs. About 10 minutes later, Carter said "Uh-oh Mommy" and was standing in a small pool of pee. We chose to still celebrate the earlier success and quickly dismissed his little accident. After dinner and several more unsuccessful times on the potty, we decided to go for a short walk. We were barely to the neighbors' house when Carter looked down and cried "Mommy!" I ran back to the house for some clean undies and shorts, and we went on our way again. 10 minutes later, he did it again. This time he was clearly upset. He didn't want to walk in the wet pants and so we made him ride in the wagon. The whole way back home, he kept looking at his pants and didn't say a word. When we got home, we started getting him ready for bed and put a diaper back on. At one point he grabbed his diaper and said "uh-oh." I thought that was actually a good sign.
All in all, I think Day 1 was successful. We went from not caring if his pants were wet to being obviously upset. He felt the excitement and success of going in the potty and recongized when he wet his diaper. One day down, many more to go.
Day 1 Final Score: 1 Pee in the potty vs. 7 wet undies
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