Potty Training: An Update

Well, thanks to my husband (and yes I REALLY mean that), we are still on the potty training wagon and Blake is getting more and more successful!!!

He stayed dry all day last Friday, while wearing a pull-up. Since then we've had good days and bad days, and days I wanted to throw in the towel completely! There are times we can go out somewhere (say the aquarium for 6 hours!) and he stays dry the WHOLE time. He won't pee in a public potty yet, but he stayed dry. Then we get home, and he had 3 accidents in 1 hour!!! So, my patience is wearing thin at times!

We have gone through fights over when to pee, where to pee, and how! Blake has taken to sitting on his little potty and reading various catalogs that are kept in the bathroom, or (his favorite) a Thomas catalog showing EVERY wooden Thomas train and accessory. He 'shops' while he sits, and eventually goes.

At times he would agree to go potty, and then sit and sit and sit. He'd yell at me that, "I'm starting" and try to hit me if I dared to interefere. He'd sit for 20-40 minutes and not pee, then put on his pull-up and immediately pee in it. After a few days of this, about Tuesday, I called hubby at work and tried to quit the whole thing again and throw in the towel on the process. (And this is where hubby earns his kudos) Hubby talked me down, calmed me down, and reminded me who was the adult and in charge here (apparently he thinks I'm in charge!! ha ha!). Basically, he saw this as a battle of wills between two very stubborn people (me and Blake) and he wouldn't let me quit and let my 3 year old win. And I think that was the key. We kept going even when B was pushing my buttons, and now B seems to realize that this is what needs to happen and he has no choice!!

Since then, we have finally had many successes: Friday he went potty for Grandma (a first!), and today he went potty for Daddy (or he couldn't go out and play in the snow!). Prior to this, he's held it while I've been gone until I get back and can sit with him in the bathroom. He's also started asking me to leave the bathroom and then he goes and calls me back in when he's done to help him clean up!!! Holy cow!!! And, he's stayed DRY (except for nap) for 2 straight days!!! HOLY COW!!! (At the moment, we're only dealing with peeing... we'll get to #2 when we've mastered this part!).

So we've made some major progress in the 2 weeks since his birthday!! I'm still waiting for him to start noticing when he needs to go, as so far I am the one who initiates the "it's time to go to the potty" concept, but that will come in time I'm sure. Strangely, we're still having success wearing pull-ups all the time, and while I want to get to undies, I'm not anxious to change our successful formula. Not sure how or when we'll transition, but I really think we're on the right path.

As a funny ending to this whole topic. Here's what happened this morning (while I was at work). Trevor still sleeps in a pull-up, and when he gets up, he changes into undies (even if he leaves his jammies on). After the boys woke Daddy up, they went into the boys bedroom to change Blake out of his wet over-night pull-up and into a new dry one for the day. Daddy asks B to take off his pants and is confused to see B wearing a dry pull-up. And then Trevor speaks up and explains, "I helped him put his pull-ups on. I pulled it over his butt!!" What a nice brother.... and what an embarrassing story for when they are older!!!